A hot potato: Photoshop maker Adobe changed its terms of service earlier this year, and creatives have since discovered that the company now states its right to freely scan user-generated content. However, the new terms are not significantly different from what they were before.
Video game concept creator Sam Santala recently discovered that Adobe has imposed new "Terms of Use" for its tools since February 2024, stating that the company has "full access" to content, including NDA-protected documents. Santala expressed his surprise about the new terms, threatening to cancel his subscription and switch to less intrusive Photoshop alternatives.
Adobe's General Terms of Use were last updated on February 17, with changes to a couple of paragraphs explaining how the company can (and likely will) access content and how that content is defined. Adobe may use manual or automated methods to scan content using machine learning algorithms, the sections state, but only in limited ways as permitted by law.
Scanned content includes text, audio or video files, documents, images, and essentially everything else that's been uploaded, imported, or embedded through the cloud-based software services sold by Adobe. The company states that it uses the results from this scanning practice to improve its services. Additionally, it could use different technologies and methods – including manual reviews – to identify CSAM material or spam activities..
Adobe's terms of service feel like a fairly standard business practice for a cloud-focused corporation, and the February update didn't bring much change to TOS documentation that has been enforced for years. If anything, Adobe has been scanning user and creator content for a long time, with a limited opt-out option for business-level accounts.
Adobe tried to reassure subscribers about its scanning practice, with the company's Chief Strategy Officer Scott Belsky stating that no generative AI models are trained on customer content. "Tight" security measures protect content from any form of access, Belsky said, and Adobe "will never assume" ownership of anything saved on its cloud servers.
The company also published a clarification post related to its TOS, trying to clear up any confusion about the updated terms and how user-generated content is managed on the cloud platform. There are probably circumstances where the terms allow Adobe "some degree of access," Belsky said, but the practice is seemingly designed to work in users' favor.