This weekend, Adobe has been affected by controversy after the heirs of respected photographer Ansel Adams denounced the sale of AI-generated imitations of his work on the Adobe Stock platform. On Friday, Adams’ heirs posted a screenshot on Threads showing AI-generated images labeled as “Ansel Adams style” available for purchase on Adobe Stock.
Although Adobe allows the sale of AI-generated images on its platform, its policies require users to own the rights or property of the content they upload. Specifically, the Adobe Stock Contributor Terms prohibit content “created using prompts that contain the names of other artists, or created using prompts that try to copy another artist in any other way.”
This would not be the case, since it was discovered that an Adobe Stock user put these images up for sale without owning their rights. In response to this controversy, Adobe quickly removed the disputed images and sent a private message to the Adams estate to establish a direct communication channel in the future, in hopes of avoiding future incidents.
Matthew Smith, Vice President of Adobe Stock, previously explained to The Verge that the company moderates all “crowdsourced” assets before making them available to customers, employing an experienced team of moderators. Additionally, starting in January 2024, Adobe plans to implement stricter measures, including the suspension of user accounts that violate the platform’s rules.
“We have no problem with someone being inspired by Ansel Adams’ photographs, but we strongly oppose the unauthorized use of his name to sell any kind of products, including digital products, and this includes the results generated by artificial intelligence,” Adams’ estate declared. Bassil Elkadi, Director of Communications and Public Relations at Adobe, stated that the company is “in active contact with Ansel Adams regarding this matter” and that “appropriate measures were taken, given that the user violated the (Adobe) Stock terms.” Adams’ heirs appreciate the removal of the images and hope that “this time it will be maintained.”
