Update: Adobe responded to this issue once on Friday, then again on Monday. The company hopes it has finally explained its terms of service clearly, and will be issuing a new terms of service for customers to agree to by June 18. However, nothing has really changed, and the situation largely remains the same as Thursday.
Creators opened Photoshop this week to find a new pop-up informing them of changes to the terms of service. That in and of itself isn’t all that unusual: Companies change their TOS all the time, and just to bypass pop-ups, you’ve probably signed your life away (so to speak) more times than you can count.
However, upon closer inspection, Adobe’s adjustments here are beyond the pale: Creators reading the pop-up realized Adobe wasn’t changing a permission here and a permission there; rather, the company claims they now have the right to access the work generated from these programs for a myriad of purposes—including, no less, for training AI.
The terms of service, as listed on Adobe’s site, appear to be from Feb. 17 of this year, and appear to apply to all Adobe apps. However, the company seems to have pushed out the pop-up to Photoshop users this week for the first time. While there are multiple sections describing these concerning new changes, section 2.2 summarizes the situation:
2.2 Our Access to Your Content. We may access, view, or listen to your Content (defined in section 4.1 (Content) below) through both automated and manual methods, but only in limited ways, and only as permitted by law. For example, in order to provide the Services and Software, we may need to access, view, or listen to your Content to (A) respond to Feedback or support requests; (B) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, legal, or technical issues; and (C) enforce the Terms, as further set forth in Section 4.1 below. Our automated systems may analyze your Content and Creative Cloud Customer Fonts (defined in section 3.10 (Creative Cloud Customer Fonts) below) using techniques such as machine learning in order to improve our Services and Software and the user experience. Information on how Adobe uses machine learning can be found here: http://www.adobe.com/go/machine_learning.
Naturally, creators didn’t take the new rules well. Sam Santala, founder of Songhorn Studios, posted on X, lambasting Adobe for locking him out of Photoshop unless he agrees to giving the company full access to his work:
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Director Duncan Jones was equally irate: His post called out Adobe for interfering with his movie, and the ridiculous nature of demanding access to creators’ work for the sole reason that they are using the company’s software to produce that work. Jones has since deleted this post.
Credit: Jake Peterson
Adobe’s pop-up blocks creators from using Photoshop until they agree to the terms of service changes. Santala says he can’t even uninstall Photoshop without agreeing to the changes first, which effectively binds creators: Either allow Adobe unlimited access to your work, or let Photoshop turn into a digital paperweight on your computer.
X is full of creators lobbing similar complaints towards Adobe, though the company appears yet to comment on the situation. As of this article, the terms of service still reflect these changes.
