Update on Similar Refusals

[Raul Ceron]

Hello!

You may have noticed in recent weeks more content being refused as “too similar.” This is part of our ongoing effort to maintain the relevancy and discoverability of content within the Adobe Stock collection. 

We understand that an increase in refusals can be discouraging, but this is an opportunity to refine your portfolio and submit your strongest content in future submissions.  

To learn more about how to submit distinct content that stands out in our collection, please refer to our Learn & Support article.

Thank you for being part of our Contributor community! 

[coffeeman_L]

I think it would be very useful if you could provide detailed information on how to avoid rejection on the grounds of “similarity”.

For example, below is an image of mine that was rejected for "Similarity":

If I'm not mistaken, this is a female cyborg in the jungle, depicted in oil painting style.

When I search for “cyborg, female, forest, oil paint” on Adobe Stock from Canada, only 1 result appears, which is probably a mistake, because the thing on the horse looks more like an ancient warrior (human) than a cyborg.

For my part, I cannot see how there can be any uniqueness in this situation, and as I said at the beginning, I can only hope for a detailed explanation from you.

Participants' reasons for contributing to Adobe Stock are certainly varied, but for me, it's the most perfect job I've ever found, one that will keep me from sitting at home all day in my impending retirement, one that will keep my brain working and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's/dementia, one where I won't have staff problems or customer whims, and one where I can work when I want and relax when I don't.

That's why, of course, I don't want to lose my account because of the “Similarity” problem that I don't clearly understand.

[daniellei4510]

While I strongly agree that whatever process is being used to discern "similar" images if far from perfect, with unique assets being rejected, similar assets still being accepted, and some accounts having dozens of similar if not duplicate assets still available (and hopefully soon removed), I think the issue here is the robot. It's basically an AI trope at this point. A search for robot yields over 3,600,000 results, regardless of the environment.

[coffeeman_L]

Dear brother (*) Daniel, I wanted to Upvote your comment, but this time I am unable to Upvote.

-------------------------

(*) "Brother" is the English translation for the word "ağabey" in Turkish. Turks address people who are older than them and whom they respect as “ağabey”. I have added this explanation because I think the word “brother” does not fully cover this.

[daniellei4510]

I know. It's a bug. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't. Others have mentioned this issue.

[Abambo]

I know. It's a bug. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't. Others have mentioned this issue.

By @daniellei4510

It depends on the forum mood. Most often, I have the issue with my iPad.

[Abambo]

For example, below is an image of mine that was rejected for "Similarity":

(...)

If I'm not mistaken, this is a female cyborg in the jungle, depicted in oil painting style.

By @coffeeman_L

It's not exactly a jungle. But I would refuse this on quality issues grounds. Don't create oil paintings. That is a simple filter to be applied by the buyer if needed.

And, on a personal note, I would abstain from creating these nonsense robots.

[coffeeman_L]

Unfortunately, since I am not an artist, a photographer, a painter or an illustrator, this is the best I can do.

I can't go beyond the current quality of this image, which would be impossible without AI.

How can I rise above this quality? I guess I can achieve this to some extent by sitting for at least five years and trying to learn photography, design, illustration and drawing every day.

But unfortunately I don't have time for that right now, I'm still actively selling coffee to people six days a week.

Maybe when I retire, if I live long enough to retire :), and if my Adobe account isn't closed for some reason, or if Adobe doesn't stop accepting AI content, I can make time for it.

If so, it would be very nice for me.

If not, there's nothing I can do, after all, not all contributors succeed in Adobe Stock, very few do (in my opinion) - especially when you have the disadvantage of being dependent on AI.

[Abambo]

Unfortunately, since I am not an artist, a photographer, a painter or an illustrator, this is the best I can do.

By @coffeeman_L

Well, you can stop creating nonsense robots. And stop giving assets an oil paint look. Create useful assets, like things that you can't photograph.

Besides that: I'll take a good coffee.

[coffeeman_L]

Abambo, I also wanted to Upvote this message of yours, but I couldn't do it again, for your information.

(The same thing happened on two different PCs in two different locations, never happened before - interesting).

[Abambo]

Abambo, I also wanted to Upvote this message of yours, but I couldn't do it again, for your information.

(The same thing happened on two different PCs in two different locations, never happened before - interesting).

By @coffeeman_L

There is a bug in the forum software. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't upvote. It's like the "Similar refusal". Sometimes you get hit, sometimes you don't... 🙂

[Jill_C]

Hi Raul,

Thanks for this update which confirms what many of have concluded for some weeks now.

I think the main issue with the "similars" rejections is that whatever method or algorithm that is being used to determine similarity does not appear to be accurate enough. I have two recent examples of rejections for similarity which are perplexing. This one is a colonnade in the Palace of Governors in Santa Fe. Whether I search for keywords or use image search in Adobe Stock or use image search in Google, similars are not found in Adobe Stock. In this case, the algorithm is causing the opposite of the intended effect: it is rejecting unique content rather than eliminating similar content. Meanwhile, it is not at all difficult to find portfolios that have egregious violations of the "similars" rule, and it appears that on such accounts, similars are still being added.

I am hoping that Adobe plans to continue tweaking this "similars" algorithm, as it does seem to be unreliable based on my experience as well as that of many other Contributors.

[daniellei4510]

This might also serve as an example of images being misinterpreted as similar. After a number of rejections for similar assets (some of which are at least arguably justifiable), and watching my rejection drop by nearly 3 points, I created the asset below.

I even researched it before bothering to create it. Yes, there are a lot of mice in the database. And a lot of cats. And a lot of cats with mice. There are even anthropomorphic mice wearing camouflage while carrying AR 15's in harsh terrain. But I could find nothing along the lines of this particular concept. The argument can always be made that an asset such as this would never sell, but it still appears far from anything similar to what is already in the database. Which makes me wonder if the logic behind such rejections is based on actual images, or more so on keywords and titles.

Anyway, just my two cents, and your update is greatly appreciated.

[muhammad_7751]

Thanks for share this

[ngap_3964]

I tried to search similar images by "find similar", the results I find are

Insert keywords

"Anime girl autumn pool maple", only 5 images found

Please tell me why do the systems/moderator think my image considered as "Similar content in our collection"?Do we have a better criteria to find out why? Thanks

[ngap_3964]

Other examples of "Angry Anime Girl" considered as "Similar content in our collection".

I tried to search similar images by "Find similar" function, but I cannot find the images similar to them. Not sure how to judge the images are similar or not, my images still got accepted sometimes, but I want to know how could I improve the success rate, thanks

[Jill_C]

I don't think anyone in the Contributor community knows how to improve our chances of getting assets to pass the "similars" hurdle. It has been suggested on the Discord server that you vary the titles and keywords. If you're submitting multiple assets on the same theme, don't just copy titles and keywords from one asset to all of the others.

[ngap_3964]

Looks like this similar issues begin from march? I guess they did not train their AI model correctly, or they are using deterministic algorithm to filter similar images with wrong threshold, or both.

[Jill_C]

Yes, many of us have concluded that the algorithm is falsely identifying assets as similar when they are actually somewhat unique.

[ngap_3964]

After reading the other posts of this case, I have my own assumptions--"The widespread 'Similar content' rejections, despite a lack of actual similarity when using Adobe Stock's search tool, suggest a potential internal drive to drastically reduce similar image counts. This may stem from upper management KPIs focused on high reduction percentages, leading engineers to implement an aggressive algorithm that indiscriminately flags a large portion of uploads. While this pleases leadership with impressive numbers and lowers the review workload, community managers might be avoiding the issue to prevent complications."

[Jill_C]

Adobe doesn't need to implement a program of abitrarily refusing high percentages of submissions. If they wanted to throttle the number of assets being submitted or to reduce the review workload, they could simply reduce the submission limit dramatically. Some Contributors are still submitting many thousands of images at a time, concentrating on quantity rather than quality. 

[daniellei4510]

"Some Contributors are still submitting many thousands of images at a time, concentrating on quantity rather than quality."

And sometimes coming here to actually brag about it.

[ngap_3964]

There are two risks to lowering the upload quantity limit: first, contributors may feel angry, and second, it may cause them to lose good images. So, how can this problem be perfectly solved? The answer is to reduce the cost of review without lowering the upload quantity limit, so they decided to entrust this task to AI. However, the actual result is that a large amount of unique content screened by contributors is filtered out, while those who originally batch upload thousands of similar images are still almost unaffected. Upper management only cares about meeting KPIs, content reviewers feel very happy after their workload is greatly reduced, and forum managers prefer to avoid getting involved.

[Jill_C]

A reduction in the submission limit isn't likely to cause Adobe to "lose good images"; however it WILL motivate spammers to do their own filtering of their assets and submit only the best. And guess what? Many Contributors ARE angry at the poorly configured algorithm / reviewing system which is now rejecting many good images. I'm also certain that reducing the workload to make their reviewers happy is not a corporate goal. If anything, reducing the workload will allow them to reduce the headcount in the review team.

[Abambo]

This may stem from upper management KPIs focused on high reduction percentages,

By @ngap_3964

Don't you think that Adobe has easier means to implement a reduction of submissions than using such a system. Adobe follows a business logic.