Inspiring

Answered

Where is the line between similar content and spam in generative AI?

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
February 7, 2024
3 replies
1719 views

Hi everyone,

I've been contributing AI-generated assets to AS since August 2023 and my acceptance rate is around 85%, which I would guess is not terrible, although I don't have a lot of examples to compare it to. I am now in the process of uploading my next big batch of assets and I am curious about the spam policy as I tend to upload many similar assets.

I've read various articles on Adobe, including "Similar content versus spam" and I feel like I still don't have a good answer on this policy, at least in terms of AI-generated content. I've noticed that different AI-generated motifs are treated differently in the review process. For example, abstract assets may be accepted in bulk, even in batches of 20 or 50, but "realistic" or "photo-like" ones tend to get rejected for looking too similar. More confusingly, some abstract assets may be rejected in bulk, even though in their nature they are identical to those which were accepted, just with a different style, or flavor, if you will.

I do see value in uploading many similar assets, at least in the abstract category, as a customer may want to download multiple different variations of the asset they like, which has happened to me a few times, and was a pleasant surprise. However, I've read horror stories of contributors getting suspended or their accounts terminated citing this exact issue.

I am conflicted on this topic because, on the one hand, the review period for AI-generated assets takes up to two months, barely leaving any space for productive experimentation or safe trial and error, and on the other hand, I do see the value in similar assets in my portfolio, so I tend to upload many variations of the same prompt, which are hopefully different enough, to increase my portfolio size and earning potential.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Cheers

Contributors

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer daniellei4510

My assets are 100% AI. But I upload like many photographers probably do: maybe 4 to 12 images at a time (which coincidentally is approximately what I have reviewed per day), and I seldom do more than 3 or 4 of the same subject or style. I have never had a "too similar" rejection and my rejection rate as it stands today is .05, with the majority of those images affecting my rejection rate being early on when I will still getting the hang of things. If I did the math based on the last 8 to 9 months, my rejection rate would probably be more like .02 percent.

Stock is a race (particularly when submitting AI) when slow and steady wins.

j

Abambo

Community Expert

If you have read the Adobe guidelines of “Similar vs Spam”, you have got all the information that you need. Unfortunately, similar is not an absolute value, as is spam. If you follow the guidelines, that also apply to generative AI (why should generative AI be different in this regard?), you should limit the similar assets to 4 to 5.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

Ars_NovaAuthor

Inspiring

Thank you for your reply.

If you have read the Adobe guidelines of “Similar vs Spam”, you have got all the information that you need.

By @Abambo

I would disagree. The guidelines, while very helpful in gauging Adobe's general attitude towards their policies, and having a few examples for them, do not reflect reality accurately, or give precise answers to questions that someone generating large amounts of assets might have. There's also a contradiction in the article where it says "Don’t send images with minimal differences, such as different image filters or background colors" and then follows an example of a vector image with the only changes being hue or negative filters added and, comically, a background change, citing "the mood and spirit are different in each". If there's a way to measure "mood" and "spirit", please explain how that can be done, otherwise, I wouldn't be so sure that this article provides all the information a contributor might have about Adobe's spam policy.

If you follow the guidelines, that also apply to generative AI (why should generative AI be different in this regard?), you should limit the similar assets to 4 to 5.

By @Abambo

I would argue, that guidelines in the article for AI-generated assets should be highlighted separately. This is because the process of creating these assets is entirely different from all the other formats and requires nuance when reviewed. For example, I've seen somewhere that we should not upload more than 3 assets from one prompt. However, when I'm prompting, I can use a parameter such as "--chaos 60" to achieve wildly different results from one prompt. It gets especially tricky with abstract assets because their similarity or variance is to be viewed subjectively almost by definition.

If we were to treat AI-generated assets the same as, for example, photo assets, none of the AI-generated content would be accepted in any microstock agency simply because every single asset has artifacts and texture imperfections which is a footprint of AI-generated content.

Abambo

Community Expert

I would disagree. The guidelines, while very helpful in gauging Adobe's general attitude towards their policies, and having a few examples for them, do not reflect reality accurately, or give precise answers to questions that someone generating large amounts of assets might have.

By @Ars_Nova

As a general rule, don’t submit more than three significant versions of a single motif.

So as a general rule, sending in a fourth asset could be considered as spam. So if you generate “large amounts of assets” you are spamming if there are no significant differences in the image.

Therefore, a portrait of a person: from the left, from the right, from the front. Over. If you have three different people, that will be acceptable.

There's also a contradiction in the article where it says "Don’t send images with minimal differences, such as different image filters or background colors" and then follows an example of a vector image with the only changes being hue or negative filters added and, comically, a background change, citing "the mood and spirit are different in each". If there's a way to measure "mood" and "spirit", please explain how that can be done, otherwise, I wouldn't be so sure that this article provides all the information a contributor might have about Adobe's spam policy.

By @Ars_Nova

OK, let's take this example:

And the negative:

You see that it is not simply a filter that has been applied. If you were a vector artist, you would know that changing the colours in such an asset is not a simple task. It's not just flipping a point of red colour into a point of green colour. And they stick with 3 assets, not four or more… So these 3 variations would be accepted, a fourth would be rejected for being similar. But it may also be that the moderator would accept a fourth, a fifth, or a sixth asset. But at some point you would get a similar refusal, and at some point Adobe would consider you to be a spammer. You will need to find out the “at some point” limit for yourself. (As a side note: spammers get banned, so that would not be a good idea for your portfolio's availability.)

The mood and the spirit will be up to the moderator to judge, I couldn't find a mood meter. If you are unsure about the mood and the spirit, don't submit because they are not different enough.

It's a guideline, it's not a legally binding text. Legally binding is your contributor agreement, where it is stated that at all moment, Adobe can close your account for no reason. They close accounts for reason, but this stipulation helps that you can't really contest their reason. Their reason will be on a commercial basis, if you are not violating IP laws: are your assets profitable, or does it cost more in moderation and client refund as it brings in? So keep your refusal rate low and submit only good assets. And don't think that when a bad asset slips through that that is Adobes issue only. You are still responsible for what you offer through Adobe stock.

I would argue, that guidelines in the article for AI-generated assets should be highlighted separately. This is because the process of creating these assets is entirely different from all the other formats and requires nuance when reviewed.

By @Ars_Nova

No. This attitude is very arrogant. Why should the criteria suddenly be different from those for classic settings just because you use a different method to generate images?

If we were to treat AI-generated assets the same as, for example, photo assets, none of the AI-generated content would be accepted in any microstock agency simply because every single asset has artifacts and texture imperfections which is a footprint of AI-generated content.

By @Ars_Nova

That is a non-argument. If every single asset has artefacts, you should correct every single asset, as we do with classical photography. You are allowed to submit generative AI assets, if they meet the quality requirements that are well established and that are true for all of us, photographers and illustrators.

As a side note: with photography, there are also different issues with some cameras, notably phone cameras, that don't produce the same quality assets than the “real” cameras. The credo was always that phone camera pictures get accepted when they meet the same quality criteria as established.

The customer pays the same price for your assets than for mine, so the customer could expect the same quality.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

daniellei4510

Correct answer

Community Expert

My assets are 100% AI. But I upload like many photographers probably do: maybe 4 to 12 images at a time (which coincidentally is approximately what I have reviewed per day), and I seldom do more than 3 or 4 of the same subject or style. I have never had a "too similar" rejection and my rejection rate as it stands today is .05, with the majority of those images affecting my rejection rate being early on when I will still getting the hang of things. If I did the math based on the last 8 to 9 months, my rejection rate would probably be more like .02 percent.

Stock is a race (particularly when submitting AI) when slow and steady wins.

j

Adobe Community Expert | If you can't fix it, hide it; if you can't hide it, delete it.

Ars_NovaAuthor

Inspiring

Thank you for your reply, your acceptance rate seems to be exceptionally healthy.

Would you be comfortable sharing the size of your portfolio and the percentage of how much of it has downloads? In my case, the downloaded assets take up around 12% of the portfolio, and assets that have more than one download take up just about 1%, so there is space for improvement and optimization.

On the subject of similar assets, I noticed that if my files get rejected for being too similar, around 4-12 assets from that batch get accepted as being different enough. Do you think that uploading around 10 assets of a similar nature would be safe, or should I stick with 3-4 assets per theme for better results?

Cheers

Jill_C

Community Expert

Rejections based on similars are among the most perplexing Moderator decisions to understand. The simplest approach is to cull your assets to eliminate "variations on a theme" that really are not varied enough. I know it's difficult to "kill your darlings" after you've invested work in them, but you really should strive to provide unique and different assets to Adobe's Buyers. Additionally, spread your "variations on a theme" among different submission batches. For instance, if you generated 4 similarly-themed images, spread them across 4 different batches and don't submit all 4 batches on one day. Rather than one massive submission for which you might have to wait up to 2 months for approval, submit 10-20 per day every day.

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

Ars_NovaAuthor

Inspiring

Thank you for your suggestions.

If I upload similar images in smaller, more spread-out batches, do they have a higher chance of not being considered too similar? I've had large amounts of my submitted images accepted at once, suggesting that they have all been reviewed at the same time, even though they were uploaded on different days.

Abambo

Community Expert

You should not submit similar assets above what is tolerated by Adobe. If you submit regularly similar assets, at some stage someone will block your account.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

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