Adobe recently upset many artists and designers by hinting that it would use their content to train AI models. The company had to quell these concerns with a blog post denying this.
But some Adobe employees still aren’t satisfied with the response and are calling for improved communication with customers.
According to screenshots of an internal Slack channel obtained by Business Insider, Adobe employees complained about the company’s poor response to the dispute and asked for a better long-term communication plan. They pointed out that Adobe has been embroiled in similar controversies in the past, adding that the internal review process needs to be fixed.
“If our goal is truly to prioritize the best interests of our users (which, frankly, I sometimes question), it’s amazing how bad our communication can be,” wrote one person on Slack. “The general perception is: Adobe is an evil company that will do whatever it takes for its users.”
“Let’s avoid becoming like IBM, which seems to be surviving mainly on its entrenched market position and legacy systems,” added this Adobe employee.
Creators on alert
This is the latest controversy sparked by the emergence of generative AI. The technology is based on AI models that are trained on mountains of data, including text, images, audio and video. It is not clear how this information is accessed and whether the creators of the data can opt out or be paid.
This has put all kinds of creators on alert for signs that their work is being used to create AI tools that could eventually compete with them. Adobe’s customers, which include graphic designers and other creative workers, are at the center of these debates.
“Can analyze your content”
The latest scandal largely stems from vague wording Adobe used in its updated Terms of Service, which said the company “may analyze your content” using machine learning technology to “improve our services and software.”
“Our automated systems may analyze Your Content and Creative Cloud Client Fonts (defined in Section 3.10 (Creative Cloud Client Fonts) below) using techniques such as machine learning to improve our Services and Software and user experience,” it says in the updated language.
Backlash was swift, with some creators threatening to cancel their Adobe subscriptions on social media.
As public outcry grew, Adobe responded with an initial blog post last week that explained it needed access to some data to perform certain unrelated functions. He also said that Adobe does not train AI models on client content.
This blog post failed to quell the hype. So Adobe followed up with another blog post on Monday that reiterated the company’s position.
“We have never trained generative AI on customer content, taken ownership of customer work, or permitted access to customer content outside of legal requirements. Nor have we considered any of these practices as part of the recent update to the Terms of Service,” the second blog post said.
“Disheartening”
Adobe officials said in a Slack channel that even after these blog posts, the company continues to face criticism from the creator community.
One official suggested Adobe come up with a “long-term communications and marketing plan beyond blog posts” and meet with the company’s most prominent critics on YouTube and social media to “correct misinformation head-on.”
“Watching misinformation spread like wildfire on social media is truly disheartening,” this person wrote on Slack. “However, there is a strong ‘F Adobe’ and ‘Cancel Adobe’ rhetoric going on in the indie creator community that needs to be addressed.”
A third official said the internal communications review process may have been broken. “What are we doing meaningfully to prevent this or is this only being done on call?” the person wrote.
Adobe leaders seem to be aware of this feedback. Scott Belsky, Adobe’s chief strategy officer, wrote to X on Monday that the TOS update was overdue.
“As technology evolves, each company’s terms of service must also evolve to directly address the new concerns on the minds of creators. We should have done this sooner, but the team is committed to getting it right,” Belsky wrote.
“Healthier” communication
An Adobe spokesperson told BI that the company has an open culture and plans to release updates to its Terms of Service by June 18.
“At Adobe, there is no ambiguity in our position, our commitment to our customers and responsible innovation in this space. We welcome the opportunity to clarify our terms and commitments and address the concerns of our customers and the community,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Last week, Adobe’s communications team wrote in the same internal Slack channel that employees should refrain from directly addressing the TOS dispute externally. Instead, they should refer to the company’s blog post, it said.
Some employees applauded Adobe’s efforts to use language that was easier to understand in the blog post.
But they also said Adobe needs to get to the root cause of the problem, rather than simply engaging in one-off efforts when such issues arise. They pointed out that Adobe has faced similar controversy in the past over accusations of charging early termination fees and deploying “dark patterns” to trick users into signing a 12-month contract.
One person suggested that you review how external messages are worded in Adobe and don’t be afraid to change things that don’t currently work.
“This will lead to healthier future communications,” this person wrote.
Do you work at Adobe? Any advice?
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