News broke in early 2023 about Adobe using content uploaded to their servers to train their AI (artificial intelligence) systems.
As you might expect, word spread quickly on social media as angry Adobe users shared their frustration.
Not only about the possibility of their content being used without permission.
But that Adobe chose to opt-in all Adobe users to their Content analysis section of their Privacy and personal data policy.
The section that says:
Adobe may analyze your content using techniques such as machine learning (e.g., for pattern recognition) to develop and improve our products and services. If you prefer that Adobe not analyze your files to develop and improve our products and services, you can opt out of content analysis at any time. This setting does not apply in certain limited circumstances.
Adobe Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky responded to criticism in mid-January 2023: “We have never, ever used anything in our storage to train a generative AI model.”
As Verge reported, Belsky explained the policy wasn’t intended for image generation.
Rather it allowed products to be analyzed in order to improve features.
According to Belsky, Adobe would be rolling out a new evolution of the policy that is more specific.
It’s three months later and the policy wording hasn’t changed.
It’s still confusing to users, who read the policy and believe it provides Adobe access to their uploaded files on Adobe servers.
Argh.
How to Toggle Off Content Analysis in Your Adobe Account
Content analysis is turned on by default in your Adobe account. Here are the steps to turn it off:
- Log in to your Adobe account
- In Account and security, select Privacy and personal data
- In Content analysis, change the toggle from On to Off
- Your changes are automatically saved
Wrapping Up
In my opinion, Adobe product users have reason to be upset about the content analysis policy, it’s confusing and not well-worded.
And given it’s opt-in, not opt-out, isn’t a good practice.
My recommendation: if you have an Adobe account, take a moment to check your privacy settings.
