Adobe unveils image-generating AI tools not to plagiarise material

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Adobe Inc unveiled new image-generating artificial intelligence (AI) tools designed for professionals to use without fear of plagiarising material or creating offensive artwork, addressing a key concern facing such technology.
Dubbed Firefly, the tool creates images and text art based on user text prompts, drawing from Adobe’s portfolio of stock media and freely licensed images. It will be made available in programs such as Photoshop, typically used by professionals, as well as Express, which is aimed more at casual users, the company said.
The software giant hopes to stand out in the rapidly evolving AI industry by offering tools that are legally bulletproof. The proliferation of AI-generated imagery has raised concerns about attribution and replication of bigoted imagery. In January, a group of artists filed a lawsuit against two companies that make AI art generators.
Adobe says Firefly won’t generate content based on the intellectual property of other people or brands, and the company is developing a way for users to get paid for including their work in training models. In an earlier interview, Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky said the company has never trained its generative AI services on customer projects, attempting to tamp down a fear that users raised.
Organisations and artists have been apprehensive about using AI tools because of the legal and ethical fears, said David Wadhwani, who oversees Adobe’s digital media business. With this release, Adobe is trying to make the technology commercially viable and mainstream, he said in an interview.