Adobe set of a firestorm of user backlash when they forced users to agree to their updated terms of use for popular products such as Adobe Photoshop, Premiere and Illustrator. In those updated terms of use was some massively overreaching language that seemingly allowed Adobe to use users Creative Cloud hosted content to train AI data models as well as requiring customers to grant extremely broad usage rights to Adobe.
Yesterday they released an updated Terms of Use that clarified what they could and could not do with users content, as well as their policy on AI training. The best part of the update is they added plain English summaries of each section. The two most controversial sections were 2.2 and 4.3 and the following are the new summaries.
Section 2.2
No one but you owns your content, but we need access to your content as necessary to operate Adobe applications and services. We limit our access to very specific purposes.
We review content that is on our servers to screen for certain types of illegal content (such as child sexual abuse material), or other abusive content or behavior (for example, patterns of activity that indicate spam or phishing). We start this process with an automated machine-driven review, but if our automated systems or another user flags an issue, a person may review the content to confirm if it is illegal or abusive.
A person may review your content on our servers in limited circumstances, such as upon your request, when you choose to let us use your content to improve our products or when your content is flagged or reported as illegal.
Here’s what we don’t do: We don’t scan or review content that is stored locally on your device. We also don’t train generative AI models on your or your customers’ content unless you’ve submitted the content to the Adobe Stock marketplace.
Section 4.3
You own your content. But in order to use our products and services, we need you to give us permission to use your content when stored or processed in our cloud. This permission is called a license.
This license allows us to provide our products and services to you, like if you want to share your content or publish your content on Behance. Because it’s your content — not ours.
This license does not give us permission to train generative AI models with your or your customers’ content. We don’t train generative AI models on your or your customers’ content unless you’ve submitted the content to the Adobe Stock marketplace.
We also ask whether you would like to help us improve our products and services, but it’s never required. When you choose to help us improve our products, we need a limited license to your content for that specific purpose.
Had this been the starting point for the terms update almost none of this would have occurred. Are Adobe fixing an overly broad legal gaff, or did they get caught and this is damage control? Ultimately only you can decide that.
Key Links
You can learn more about the updated (updated) Adobe Terms of Use in the video below.