Earlier this summer, Adobe made some sweeping changes to Adobe Stock, primarily aimed at protecting real artists from AI-generated harm on the platform. PetaPixel got a preview of some other new features, which have now arrived to Stock.
“Over the last 18 months, demand for exceptional content has continued to grow at an accelerated rate — which is expanding the opportunity for Stock content creators and contributors. There are also questions about the impact of Generative AI,” Adobe Stock lead Matthew Smith explains. Smith outlines how generative AI has impacted Stock in good and bad ways alike and how Adobe plans to ensure contributors have the tools they need to earn income while artists are protected from the downfalls of AI.
That’s not to say that AI has harmed Adobe Stock at large — not at all. Adobe Stock contributor earnings are at an all-time high, buoyed by Adobe Firefly generative AI. There’s also Adobe’s Content Missions, which incentivize contributors to create content lacking on Stock.
Beyond these opportunities, Adobe plans to bring new generative AI features to the platform. When someone thinks of Firefly, they rightly think about generating all-new content. However, Adobe has something else in mind — changing existing content. Using Firefly, customers can adjust existing Stock content to match their needs and brand. For example, customers will be able to use Firefly to change the colors in a photo.
For Firefly to continue to improve, training is required. To that end, Adobe announced its second Firefly contributor bonus payment. In the next few weeks, eligible Adobe Stock contributors with images, vectors, illustrations, or, for the first time, videos, will receive a bonus payment if their content is used to train Firefly.
“The 2024 bonus is based on the all-time number of approved videos as well as photos, vectors, or illustrations approved between June 3, 2023, and June 2, 2024, and the number of licenses that those assets generated in the same 12-month period. In addition, any Generative AI content uploaded within the same time frame and used for training will be included in the bonus,” Smith explains.
A natural question is, “How do I opt-out of having my Adobe Stock contributions being used to train Adobe Firefly?” You can’t.
That said, Adobe has made other tweaks to its approach to AI and AI-generated content on Adobe Stock.
“We believe that Generative AI should be developed responsibly — and that starts with respect for creators’ rights and transparency about Generative AI in the Adobe Stock marketplace,” Smith writes.
Among the changes, Adobe has updated its Generative AI submission policies. Now, contributors cannot submit generative AI content with titles that imply that the content depicts “a newsworthy event.” If a contributor mistitles generative AI content, it will be reviewed, and the offending content will be removed. The contributor may also be banned from the platform altogether.
Further, Adobe has updated its content usage policies to outline how customers cannot use Adobe Stock content to “mislead or deceive” others. As for how this will be policed, it will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. If a licensee is found to violate terms, their rights to the content will be terminated.
‘We believe that Generative AI should be developed responsibly… ‘
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Adobe has invested new resources, human and machine alike, to significantly scale its moderation of Adobe Stock content, contributor behavior, and licensees. The expanded auditing, which went into effect earlier this summer, has already resulted in more than 100,000 offending assets being reclassified or outright removed from Stock.
Adobe Stock has taken some heat for failing to protect artists. A situation with AI images in the “style of Ansel Adams” made headlines earlier this year, and brought to light some shortcomings with Stock’s moderation system. As Firefly has made it easier for people to create new content, Adobe has had to play a bit of catch-up with how it policies its platform.
To deal with situations like the Ansel Adams one, Stock has new machine learning classifiers in place to identify when an artist’s name is used or referenced in violation of Adobe Stock policies.
The machines don’t always catch these things, though, which is why Adobe has added a user-based Report Issue button to every licensable asset page. Users can manually flag questionable content, which Adobe will then review. If an artist finds content on Stock that they believe violates their IP rights, they should use the button to report it.
“At Adobe, we’re deeply invested in evaluating and thinking carefully about how Generative AI is changing creative workflows and ensuring that it is ultimately a technology that improves creator productivity, unlocks human potential and serves creative careers,” Smith concludes. “We’re committed to innovating responsibly, in partnership with creators, stock contributors and customers.”
Adobe is walking a delicate tightrope with Adobe Stock and Adobe Firefly. On the one hand, the company creates software used by real artists, in many cases to earn a living. Some of these artists create content explicitly for licensing on Adobe Stock.
“Over the last year we’ve made significant changes to our site, policies, and procedures to help identify and ensure transparency around generative content, clarify and amplify our policies around the use of generative AI, and create a collection that both meets our customers’ needs and helps to address creators’ concerns,” Adobe says. “We are preparing for a future where post-production of images will often include some use of AI editing, but professional photography and artistic judgment will continue to differentiate the best content.”
‘We are preparing for a future where post-production of images will often include some use of AI editing, but professional photography and artistic judgment will continue to differentiate the best content.’
On the other hand, contributing to Stock necessarily means that content may be used to train generative AI technologies that have at least a view toward replacing real people to some extent. For those who rely on stock licensing royalties to put food on the table, it can be a bitter pill to swallow to be helping create the AI beast that may cut into earnings.
Ultimately, transparency is vital as Adobe navigates the murky, AI-infested waters that nearly every technology company finds themselves in at the moment. Regardless of a person’s feelings toward generative AI, it is at least important to understand what’s happening on various platforms and how companies are using — and hopefully protecting — your content.
Image credits: Featured image created using an asset licensed via Depositphotos.
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