Art and AI are back in the news, but this time it's not about robot-generated masterpieces.
Instead, it is Adobe's content analysis policy that is receiving criticism. Social media users have pointed out how the developer Photoshop uses content stored on its servers: it looks like Adobe is using it to train the AI.
In response, countless users started counting ways to lock down privacy settings in Creative Cloud suite and Document Cloud. Even the team behind the free drawing software Krita joined the Twitter storm, describing Adobe's actions as "ew."
Adobe Content Analytics
The online pushback began when Adobe added content analysis to its data collection permissions, without allowing each and every user to register first.
In a leaked screenshot, the new option explains: “Adobe may examine your content using techniques such as machine learning to develop and improve our products and services. If you prefer that Adobe not analyze your files to develop and improve our services, you can opt out of content analysis at any time. This setting does not apply in limited circumstances.
Without disabling this alternative, creatives could inadvertently discover that their work is being used to train algorithms.
However, this is not a new policy. The original text can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions (opens in a new tab), last updated in August XNUMX. There, the company explains in more detail:
“Adobe primarily uses machine learning in Creative Cloud and Document Cloud to examine their content. Machine learning describes a subset of artificial intelligence in which a computer system uses algorithms to examine and learn from data without human intervention to draw conclusions from patterns and make predictions.
Artificial intelligence has been one of Adobe's biggest successes of late. Called Adobe Sensei, it works in everything from Acrobat to Premiere Pro, delivering higher-quality results in a more attainable stack of creative tools.
It turns out, perhaps unsurprisingly, that Sensei's secret ingredient is user content. This includes Adobe Stock, Adobe Express, and Lightroom submissions, beta participation and enhancement programs, and PDF structural element processing.
In response to the complaint, an Adobe spokesperson told multiple publications that users retain control of their privacy preferences and settings, repeating that this has been a longstanding policy. So that's good then.