Over the past few weeks, Adobe has faced intense backlash over changes to its terms of service agreement, and is now trying to fix things. On Tuesday, Adobe announced a modified version of its terms of service agreement that makes it clear that the company will not train ai on user content stored locally or in the cloud.
The section defining Adobe's access to user content now includes several different categories, including one dedicated to generative ai. Adobe's updated terms explicitly state that its software “will not use your on-premises or cloud content to train generative ai.” But there is one exception: if your work is submitted to the Adobe Stock marketplace, the company can use it to train Adobe Firefly.
These additions to the terms of service, according to Scott Belsky, Adobe's chief strategy officer, aren't actually changing anything: Adobe says its stance on ai training simply hadn't been clearly stated before, causing confusion. “We have explicitly said that we will not train generative ai on its content,” Belsky said during an interview with The edge. “It was always a policy we had as a company. “We always made it very clear, but we never said it explicitly.”
The new terms also address user concerns about scanned Adobe content created under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), saying the company does not “scan or review” work stored locally on your device. Adobe will only automatically scan content uploaded to the cloud to “make sure we're not hosting illegal or abusive content, such as child sexual abuse material.” It will also subject work uploaded to the cloud to human review only if it is flagged or reported as illegal, or if you opt for a preview, beta or Adobe Product Improvement Program.
Adobe's changes to its terms of service agreement caused an uproar earlier this month after users misinterpreted the changes as giving the company permission to use their work for ai training. The protest arose from creatives who have been frustrated by the company's enormous control over the creative industry. Even the federal government has taken notice of user complaints about Adobe, as the Department of Justice is suing the company for allegedly hiding costly cancellation fees and making it difficult to cancel their subscriptions.
Much of the user frustration dates back to Adobe's switch to a subscription-only model in 2012, something Belsky acknowledged as a point of contention. “I think it was a change for some customers that probably affected them negatively,” Belsky said. “I think when something like this (terms of service update) happens, my observation is that we see a resurgence of that frustration. “It is possible that this was sown when we made that model change.”
It's great that Adobe is changing their terms of service to make them more transparent, but this may only serve as a small band-aid on top of a much larger wound that will likely require more time (and a lot of attention) to heal.
