Adobe Revises Terms of Service after Backlash from Users

Adobe was recently under fire for updating its Terms of Use, which led users to believe that it will now be using their content to train its AI models.
The company released a blog immediately thereafter to clarify the terms and tried to assure users that their content was indeed safe.
However, that wasn’t enough. Adobe has now announced that it will further update its Terms of Service by June 18 after speaking to its customers.
Meanwhile, the company has issued further clarifications regarding a policy change through a fresh blog.

Adobe just recently updated its Terms of Service and received massive backlash from customers and industry experts alike, who dubbed it a spyware-like update.

The update to section 2.2 is what the fuss is about. It reads: “Adobe may use techniques such as machine learning to analyze user content to improve its services and software.” Furthermore, this change is set to be applicable to both manually-built and AI-generated content.

As it may read like to anyone, Adobe users, too, interpreted this as giving Adobe the right to access and use their content to train AI models.

Although the company tried to assure customers that this is not the case and even said it only uses licensed content to train its AI models, it looks like that didn’t help much. Re-wording its Terms of Use and then explaining them in simple terms was the only way out.

Understanding Adobe’s Clarification

It’s worth noting that Adobe has yet to completely update its policy. The company revealed that it “will speak to customers with a plan to roll out updated changes by June 18, 2024.”

Meanwhile, Adobe acknowledged that it should have used better language to avoid any confusion in the first place.

Until the terms are updated, here are some clarification pointers Adobe wants its users to keep in mind:

Users will own their content, and it won’t be used to train AI models. This will be made clear in the license grant section.
Adobe also said that it only trains its AI models on licensed content or content available in the public domain.
Content that is locally stored on your device is not scanned by Adobe. For content you upload to an Adobe tool, an automated scan is done to ensure there’s no child sexual abuse material involved. A human will only review your content upon request (if it’s posted on a public-facing site) or to comply with the law.
The licenses Adobe needs to operate its products on its users’ behalf use standard statutory copyright rights. However, with this update, it will contain examples of what they really mean and why they’re so essential (in plain English) so that it’s easier for users to understand.
Adobe is also planning to separate and limit the licenses that are required to improve its products. Plus, it’ll give special attention to the opt-out option in the upcoming update.
The only time Adobe accesses some of your usage activity and content is when it’s working on improving its overall product experience and developing new features. It’s well worth noting, though, that users will always have the option to opt-out.

To conclude, Adobe assured that the updated Terms of Service it’s planning to release next week will be more precise and easy to understand for regular users. Plus, the policy will only be binding on current activities and that of the immediate future—meaning it won’t peep into the past.

Last but not least, Adobe also added that its mission to create a safe space for creators goes beyond just its Terms of Service. It’s simultaneously working on initiatives like:

FAIR legislation that protects content creators from impersonation.
Content Credentials (offering credit to creators, provenance of content, and the ability to add “do not train” tags for images that are shared online).

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