P: AI Masks Require updating and/or disappear

[Shelemiah]

Hello,

I recently had a call with Adobe support with no luck. I have found some threads on this but nothing presents a solution and it seems hard to find what the actual issue is.

If I edit a client gallery and use any healing brush tool or AI masking tool, the mask or healing brush/generative AI will get a red dot underneath after going back to the start of the gallery, my AI edits are gone....

I also noticed this happens 100% of the time when I quite and reopen lightroom, I can fix the mask, update ai settings but it just resets each time I open lightroom.

We tested a new catalogue, we tested a bunch of things with no luck. 

We really need a fix on this Adobe it is killing workflow, not sure what broke this setting. I can't revert to an old version because I have lots of photos (I do 1 catalogue per year) and can't go back weeks of client work.

Also this catalogue was started at the begining of 2025 so there is no version 13 of this catalogue to revert to and test.

PLEASE HELP ADOBE!

[Hans Malestein]

Hi @johnrellis I just did your workaroudn and it solved the issues!! Many thanks. I moved the Lightroom Catalog-2-v13-3.lrcat-data file to a backup folder and started LR again, creating a new x.lrcat.data file and there after Executed Automated AI updates in Development, for last 3 fotoshoots. And thereafter all AI deletions stay remained!  

Many thank for your advice!

Fot the comming period I will stay away frm Imagine AI! I was just trying if it could help and improve my workfolow ann save time, but for teh comign period I will NOT use Image AI anymore!!

Now delivered my last shoot and time for holiday!

[Sophiesticated Photography]

I've searched the community but can't seem to find a topic similar to mine. I'm sorry if there is.

If I remove something with the AI tool it works, if I export the file immediatly the adjustments are saved but if I don't after a couple of minutes adjustments are lost. (Lr is saying to "update AI settings" and "Delete settings need to be updated".

It's a bit annoying...

I'm also using Imagen AI, maybe there's something there? 

Anyone has an idea?

THANK YOU!

[JohanElzenga]

AI stuff is stored in 'catalogname.lrcat-data'. Sometimes this file gets corrupted, or its privileges are reset, so Lightroom is no longer able to write to it. Try this: remove this file from your catalog folder, so Lightroom will rebuild it. You will once more have to select all images and update AI, but then the problem should be solved.

[Sophiesticated Photography]

Thank you so much!!! Lifesaver.

[tiffany_4178]

This is also happening to me. Multiple times. So will I have to do this with every gallery? How can this problem be prevented?

[johnrellis]

@tiffany_4178and @Sophiesticated Photography, Imagen AI has a known bug that causes  these symptoms. Deleting the .lrcat-data file works until the next time you run Imagen AI. See here for another way to use Imagen AI without tripping over its bug:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-ai-masks-require-updating-and-or-disa...

[johnrellis]

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please merge with this thread:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-ai-masks-require-updating-and-or-disa...

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

It has been reported that one cause of this issue is the use of the Imagen AI Plugin. 

@johnrellis has provided two workarounds in his post in this thread. 

1. Deleting the <catalog>.LRCAT-data file, or
2. Using Imagen AI's Bridge workflow, which downloads .xmp sidecars rather than writing into the catalog. 

You can find additional details in the thread. 

Update 8/12/2025

Greetings all, 

A new update for the Adobe Photography products has been released.  The August update contains an update regarding this issue. 

If you do not see the update in your Creative Cloud Application, you can refresh it by pressing  [Ctrl/Cmd]+[Alt/Opt]+[ R ].

Note: It may take up to 24 hours for your update to be available in your Creative Cloud app.

Thank you for being so patient. 

[anne_guillard]

I have the same problem but I don't use Imagen. 
'what else you recommanded ???

[johnrellis]

@anne_guillard: "I have the same problem but I don't use Imagen."

1. Have you updated to LR 14.5?

2. Have you tried this workaround:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-ai-masks-require-updating-and-or-disa...

[Jason297497261vo4]

 Your change to AI Denoising has decimated my workflow. It often takes two-three passes of updating AI Denoise settings...and even then, when I export my photos I still have no idea if they'll export with the most up-to-date settings! It takes me roughly three times as long to output photos now. I'm really unhappy with this.

[skmaithreya]

This discussion forum is on Lightroom Classic (LrC), but the screenshot shared should be from Lightroom Desktop ( LrD ).

Anyways, please do try out the latest update of LrD and check whether the issue is still seen.

[johnfmichel]

Deleting the <catalog>.LRCAT-data file worked for me. Indeed I have been using Imagen AI and on a M4 Mac laptop.

[tonyhartphoto]

Has this bug been addressed in the latest version (14.5)? The changelog does not explicitly mention bug fixes.

[johnrellis]

@tonyhartphoto: "Has this bug been addressed in the latest version (14.5)? The changelog does not explicitly mention bug fixes."

Adobe employee @Rikk Flohr: Photography posted in a pinned reply at the top of this thread: "The August update contains an update regarding this issue."

While this thread is not mentioned in the Adobe LR 14.5 release notes for bug fixes:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/fixed-issues.html?trackingid=M7K4SJ69&mv=in-product

(perhaps because Adobe never publicly acknowledged this as a bug), the Lightroom Queen's release notes, which are more comprehensive and thorough, does list this thread as a fixed bug:

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/whats-new-in-lightroom-2025-08/

I believe she gets her list of fixed bugs directly from Adobe's internal tracking system.

Given the ambiguity here and lack of detailed information from Adobe, I think it's important that people who experienced this prior to LR 14.5 post updates about whether or not they're continuing to see issues, including whether or not they use Imagen AI.

[tonyhartphoto]

Thanks for the post. I have now updated to Lightroom 14.5 and have done some testing. 

The AI Denoise bug that resulted in an error message appears to be resolved. However the AI removes being 'forgotten' bug seems to remain. I am an ImagenAI user but the bug seems to rear it's head whether an image has been touched by ImagenAI or not. At this stage I guess that I will have to take a swing at allowing Lightroom to build a new <catalog>.LRCAT-data file. I am however extremely concered about what this will do to historic images though.

I am also encountering a seperate issue whereby backups do not complete. Which is worrying.

Needless to say Lightroom is not in a terribly healthy spot at present.

[tonyhartphoto]

Further testing shows that forcing LR to rebuild a new .LRCAT-data file resolves the saving/remembering of generative remove data, but it does mean that thousands upon thousands of images that I have been created since Generative AI was introduced in May last year need to be rebuilt. As Generative AI is, by definition, generative, this means that I may end up with photographs that do not look like they used to. 

I personally consider that unacceptable.

What is really required, rather than replacing the LRCAT-data file is a tool that would repair what appears to be a corrupted database file. Better still, it'd be great to be able to 'bake in' or at least rasterize the generative remove results once you're happy with them. 

It leaves professional creators in a very tricky position. Historically we've been able to edit a raw file and then return to it at some stage in the future, confident that the processed file will be as we left it. Now, that confidence has been fundamentally undermined. The only way to be sure is to spit out JPEGs. That is obviously something professional photographers do as a matter of course, but it is a clear and fundamental step backwards to now be in a situation where a corrupt LRCAT-data file can kibbosh years of work. 

I would begin by asking why LrC backup does not include the LRCAT-data file. If we were able to roll back to a functional version, that would at least offer some redundancy, much as we have with the regular main catalog file. 

[johnrellis]

@tonyhartphoto, did you use Image AI on your catalog at any point?  That's at least one cause of this issue, and it hasn't been determined yet whether using Imagen AI LR 14.5 still causes the problem.

[tonyhartphoto]

I have used ImagenAI on images in my main catalog and this is where the problems exist.

However, as a workaround during the 14.4 version run, I've been creating a seperate catalog for each of my wedding shoots, editing in that small per-event catalog (using ImagenAI) and then reimporting the finished article into my main catalog (using "import from catalog") after exporting deliverables from the per-event catalogs. The issue raises its head only in the main catalog. The per-event catalog that has been 'touched' by ImagenAI does not display problems.

This issue does not appear to be resolved in 14.5.

[johnrellis]

@tonyhartphoto, thanks. 

Absent more details from Adobe and Imagen AI, the issues remain cloudy, to say the least. 

In LR 14.4, once a catalog was poisoned by Imagen AI, it remained poisoned and continued to need continual updating, even if you stopped using Imagen AI, until you deleted the .lrcat-data file, which would generate new variants for Generative Remove AI.  It sounds like your main catalog was poisoned in LR 14.4 or earlier and remains poisoned in LR 14.5.

There's no indication from Adobe or user testing that LR 14.5 fixes such Imagen poisoning from previous versions.

But are you saying that using Imagen AI with a new catalog created in LR 14.5 doesn't get poisoned?

[tonyhartphoto]

But are you saying that using Imagen AI with a new catalog created in LR 14.5 doesn't get poisoned?

By @johnrellis

That's exactly what I'm saying. I've used multiple additional catalogs to try and work around the issue, and none of those additional catalogs, all of which have been touched by Imagen AI, have exhibited this behaviour. That doesn't rule out ImagenAI as part of the issue, but it does convince me that the problem lies in how Lightroom is writing generative remove data. 

[johnrellis]

I reran my test of Imagen AI, using a new catalog with LR 14.4 again and the same version of the Imagen app as before (25.6.7). But I didn't experience the misbehavior previously observed: The yellow AI Edit Status button didn't light up, and further AI edits were properly remembered without needing updating.

Since I used the same version of LR and the Mac app, this strongly indicates that after I last tested on 8/1/2025, Imagen AI fixed something on their server side, where they compute all their edits, .

I also tested with a new catalog and LR 14.5 and didn't experience the misbehavior, as @tonyhartphoto also reported.

Unfortunately, if you ran Imagen AI before they fixed their server side, and you're experiencing the constant yellow AI Edit Status button indicating the need to update AI settings, then your .lrcat-data file is "poisoned". The only known workaround is to delete the .lrcat-data file and re-update all AI settings. For Generative AI Remove, this will generate new variants, which you'll have to review individually.  

[johnrellis]

@tonyhartphoto: "Generative AI is, by definition, generative, this means that I may end up with photographs that do not look like they used to."

That's not an inherent property of the AI algorithms. They do incorporate randomness, but Adobe's Firefly architecture could record the random-number seed(s) so that regenerating a Remove result would produce the exact same output.  But alas, Remove wasn't designed that way.

[MaloFX]

All AI edits are removed almost instantly after moving on to the next image. 

Mac OS Sonoma 14.7.8 — LRc 14.5.1 Camera Raw 17.5

Two LRc updates have come and gone but error still happening, this has been going on for at least 5 months.

This has been difficult as a wedding photographer.

Please help, I edited a whole wedding just to find out that all ai changes did not stick. 

It is also important to mention that this happened after I installed ImagenAI who claimed that the issue isn't with them, after searching the web I found others with the same issue. 

[AxelMatt]

...

It is also important to mention that this happened after I installed ImagenAI who claimed that the issue isn't with them, after searching the web I found others with the same issue. 

By @MaloFX

If the problem only occurs when ImagenAI is installed, it's highly likely that ImagenAI is the cause of the problem.

I would definitely contact the manufacturer again.