Yesterday I wrote about the controversy surrounding Adobe and its updated terms of service. Developers were irate after receiving a pop-up forcing them to agree to the modern terms: otherwise they couldn’t access Photoshop or remove the app from their computers.
However, it wasn’t just the fact that the terms were mandatory that worried so many users. The modern language seemed to suggest that Adobe claimed access to creators’ work for a myriad of reasons: many of them were confused because many professionals signed NDAs to work with Adobe applications. Of course, regardless of the legal situation, many people also rejected the idea that Adobe could access the works of these creators simply because Adobe created the applications they used.
Adobe was quiet on this matter, until this blog post is published. In it, the company explains that the changes to the “Terms of Apply” were actually minor changes and were intended to ensure transparency of the company’s moderation policy. The company included an excerpt of the terms in a blog post, with the modern additions highlighted in pink (including any items that were removed from the previous terms):
Source: Adobe
What’s modern, according to Adobe, is the statement that the company “may” (not “only”) access content through automated and manual methods and that it reviews content for illegal content, including child sexual abuse material. If the automated system thinks something is illegal, it flags the item for human inspection. The remaining terms and conditions are apparently the same as always, and the popup that appeared was a routine re-opt-in campaign designed to allow users to agree to minor changes.
Since this “access” has been at the heart of the controversy, Adobe detailed why it needs it in a blog post. The company says it needs access to user content for three specific reasons: to run standard in-app functions (such as opening files or creating thumbnails); for cloud-based features like Photoshop neural filters and background removal; and, as noted in the terms above, to screen for illegal activity or other offensive content.
What’s more, the company says it doesn’t train Firefly Gen AI models on your content, and Adobe will never “take ownership” of your work. If you’re wondering why the company specifically talks about Firefly Gen AI models and not a more general statement about general AI training, it’s because Business does enjoy content stored in the cloud, including images, audio, video, text or documents, for the purpose of training artificial intelligence. Any data you upload to Adobe’s servers is fair game in the process and is aggregated with everyone else’s data to train Adobe’s AI to “improve [Adobe’s] products and services.”
It’s not explicitly stated in the blog post, but the Adobe support article says you can opt out of this training by by going to your account’s privacy settingsand then deactivating the switch for Allow Adobe to analyze my content to improve and develop products under Content analysis.
What is the conclusion?
Adobe probably won’t constantly scour your work for confidential secrets about your designs, and is adamant that it does not claim ownership of your designs. However, the company Power gain access to everything you upload to Adobe’s servers: This access allows Adobe to scan for illegal content, but it also allows the company to employ your work to train its AI models.
Opting out of AI training is wise, but the best way to continue using Adobe applications without having to worry about Adobe access is to store all your projects locally on your computer. If you don’t employ Adobe’s cloud services, the company can only access your work to perform app-related tasks, such as generating thumbnails, if the terms are to be believed.
These policies also largely remained in place for an undisclosed period of time: the pop-up you may have seen this week suggested agreeing to minor tweaks Adobe made to the terms, rather than agreeing to sweeping changes. You already agreed to these rules – you just didn’t know it. My recommendation? Going forward, limit your cloud work with Adobe unless it’s absolutely necessary for your job. The more content you can store on your computer, the better.
