Adobe's updated "Terms and Conditions" have sparked user anger, prompting the company to make modifications and clarifications to its terms and conditions.

This controversy stems from a clause in the document that states Adobe can access user content through "automated and manual methods."

The updated terms state:

"We have made some changes to the general terms of use for Adobe software and services, including:

Clarifying that we may access your content through automated and manual methods (e.g., content review) (Sections 2.2 and 4.1)."

Users criticized this decision and refused to accept the changes, with some pointing out that they are bound by non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that prohibit sharing information with unauthorized parties.

However, Adobe stated in a blog post that these changes are a "routine re-acceptance" of these terms for Adobe Creative Cloud and Document Cloud customers. The article states, "We have received many questions arising from this update and would like to provide some clarifications."

"We remain committed to transparency, protecting the rights of creators, and enabling our customers to produce their best work."

Differences in Adobe's terms and conditions

Adobe announced, "The focus of this update is to more clearly articulate improvements to our existing review processes. Given the explosive growth of generative AI and our commitment to responsible innovation, we have increased the amount of manual review in our content submission review process."

Initially, the terms regarding access to user content stated, "We access, view, or listen to your content only through automated and manual methods in a limited way and only where permitted by law." However, this statement was later modified to "may" access content, which raised concerns among users.

In addition, Adobe added, "To be clear, Adobe requires limited licenses to access content solely for the operation or improvement of services and software, and to enforce our terms and comply with the law, such as preventing abuse of content."

When Adobe applications and services may access content

Adobe states that its applications and services need to access user content to fulfill their intended functionalities, such as opening and editing files, creating thumbnails, and generating previews for sharing.

This access also allows for the use of cloud-based advanced features, such as Photoshop Neural Filters, Liquid Mode, and Remove Background tool. Users interested in how content is managed and how its usage is controlled can find detailed information on Adobe's dedicated help page.

When content is processed or stored on Adobe's servers, the company states that it employs various technologies and processes. These include upgrading to manual (human) review to filter out illegal or abusive content, such as activities displaying spam or phishing.

It reiterates that it does not train its Firefly Gen AI model on customer content. It has been reported that the Firefly generative AI model is trained on licensed content datasets, such as Adobe Stock, and public domain content with expired copyrights. Adobe emphasizes that it "will never claim ownership of customer works."