Photoshop has become so laden with AI tools it is difficult to use without. I am a photojournist and photo instructor so very constrained it what editing tools I can use -- and teach -- for ethical and professional reasons. Lightroom is probably the best alternative, but I am not crazy about it and there are some things you can't do in LR that you can in PS. Do others in the community have this concern? What does Adobe suggest?
There is a huge ethical difference between AI tools which are just using AI to make the tool work better, for example to make more accurate selections, and generative AI functions which, as the name suggests, generate new image content.
I would continue to use Photoshop but just avoid those generative AI functions.
Note that AI features are now being added to the editing tools in Lightroom and Camera Raw, so the answer is not in those applications.
One way Adobe is addressing this is by starting to support the Content Authenticity Initiative; the Content Credentials feature in Photoshop can disclose the use of AI in a document. But unfortunately, that doesn’t help someone avoid accidentally using AI in the first place, and I don’t think it can tell you where you used it in a document, so it’s not a complete solution.
It’s also increasingly difficult to identify effective alternatives, because this is an industry-wide problem: Many of the good photo applications that are not currently using AI are scrambling to add it as soon as they can, for competitive reasons. So unless software companies start doing things like enabling a master switch for AI throughout the app, the long-term solution for your question is not clear right now.
The only thing I can think of is this: The first time you use an AI feature, a dialog box pops up asking you to agree to the AI terms of use. If you always decline to agree, that might mean you aren’t using any generative AI editing features.
I hate that it's here and only going to get better. As much as I'd like to avoid it, I think the writing is on the wall, friends. We're going to have to adapt. I am hopeful that our jobs will only evolve, not disappear completely.
Maybe you want opt-in? That's where you have to choose to use them? Opt-out would be tools being automatically applied to your image and you having to decline. Tools are already opt-in. You have to manually choose to use them.
I'm for this. I don't mind opt-out, it could be a checkbox in Preferences to disable Firefly. The point is that some of us feel things are crossing an ethical line nowadays, and we prefer to stay on the other side of that line.
You can choose to not use the tools, but that line is pretty blurred by now.
Content aware fill is fine, because it uses data already in the image. It's predictable. It doesn't pull in anything external.
There is a very clearly visible red line here, and it's where the algorithm uses outside data. I don't have enough technical insight to know how Adobe Sensei is different from Firefly, but there is a clear functional distinction that is easy to see. It's the generative part that I don't like and don't want.
Ethically, I think this is very clear cut. It's about passing off work as your own, when you didn't actually do it.
Obviously, there's a whole range of advanced tools that let you alter an image substantially. That's fine, that's why you use Photoshop in the first place. Any experienced photographer knows that a photo is not reality, it's an interpretation of reality. There's a lot of leeway there. But you're in charge, you decide what the finished result is, and you have to do the work to get there.
Oh, and BTW, it would be very easy. Just a checkbox that yanks out the virtual internet cable.
Photoshop is a creative tool. Acrobat Reader goes on most corporate desktops. I'm not surprised that as a business decision, Adobe included that killswitch.
Accept the Firefly Terms of Use: If you haven't already, agree to the Firefly Terms of Use that appears.
The Mode setting in the Remove Tool is set based on the Terms of Use acceptance. Manually change the Mode setting in the options bar as needed: • Auto (May use generative AI) - default if TOU was accepted • Always use generative AI • Never use generative AI - default if TOU was declined
I think this will become more and more of an issue as time goes on. I can't imagine Adobe will do a totally separate version for photojournalists but it would be great to have a toggle option where AI functions are disabled. The media is going to come under so much scrutiny going forward, with accusations of fake imagery, it would be great if the industry leader didn't just follow the zeitgeist for a moment and thought about those who have to remain truthful with their work.
And you are aware that ALL cameras, film and digital, capture a distorted version of reality? For example, look up metamerism. Using Photoshop at all could be considered "unethical" if you want to be pedantic.
I don't know which of their engineers thought that leaving a generative fill window permanently in the middle of the image would be a good idea. But really, it's completely incoherent.
They make all kinds of interfaces to be able to hang the windows where you want them, but strangely enough it's impossible. It drives me mad! Image editing software with a window right in the middle of working space ! (abuse removed)
It's called the Contextual Task Bar, as it changes depending on what you are doing. You can close it, pin it to a specific location, or reopen it (Window menu). Details here:
But I'm well aware of how it works, thank you! I'm just not trying to hide it because I'm using these functions. My wish is that it can find a place in one of the menus, for example it could be very well on a single line at the very bottom of the window, even if it changes depending on the tool you're using. That's where I'd put it if I was given the option of hanging it, but that's not the case. Maybe there's a way of attaching it to a menu, but I don't think so. The fact that it's wandering around and I have to move it all the time and that it's in the middle of the action, I find problematic.
@kenzo_2165 wrote: Maybe there's a way of attaching it to a menu, but I don't think so. The fact that it's wandering around and I have to move it all the time and that it's in the middle of the action, I find problematic
I'm confused Kenzo. The Contextual Task Bar is already in the Window menu, and you were already told that you can pin it on your workspace so you don't have to keep moving it. Can you clarify your issue?
The use of Generative-AI is increasingly being banned by photographic organisations for competitions (e.g. FIAP). However, it is becoming harder and harder to avoid generative AI in Photoshop as it is not clear which tools are using it and in which circumstances. It would be much better if the user could disable all use of generative AI via a single setting in PS, to avoid them inadvertantly falling foul of the rules.
I do not hate AI, some incredible artworks are being produced using these tools, however, I need to be in full control of every part of my image, so I would love to be able to turn off AI in Photoshop globally
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