WARNING - Adobe has assigned you the legal task of "having the copyright" to a Generative AI Image

[djohn101]

Hey everyone,

Just posting for anyone who might have submitted a Generative AI image to Adobe Stock, or are thinking about doing so.

Does anyone realize Adobe has assigned Stock Contributors the task of having to have "the copyright" to a Generative AI image? (I don't blame you if you didn't; it's was buried multiple levels deep in the Terms & Conditions).

Do we realize what this means? Can any one at Adobe help clarify? As far as I can tell:

WE are the ones liable for having to have the "rights" to a Generative AI image.

Is this even possible  and/or legal? 

 From Thaler v. Perlmutter

Judge Beryl A. Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that works generated entirely by artificial intelligence are not copyrightable for lack of human authorship. 

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2022cv01564/243956...

It's actually insanely clever and deceptive what Adobe did. They: 

#1 - Actively encouraged contributors to submit Generative AI to Adobe Stock (this gives them way more data for Firefly), which are then are "licensed" in Adobe Stock.

#2 - Completely rid themselves of the murky area of having to have the "rights" to a Generative AI image as lawsuits can't catch up fast enough. They passed this responsibility directly onto the person uploading (but buried it in Terms & Conditions...who reads those!)

So where does this leave us? Are contributors now on the hook as all of these Generative AI lawsuits come down the pipe?

[Abambo]

(but buried it in Terms & Conditions...who reads those!)

By @djohn101

Sure, it's in the terms & conditions, but it's not buried deep into them. And it was in those terms even when there were no generative AI tools.  It's your responsibility to know what is in them, as you have agreed to them when you became a contributor. So that is common knowledge of all contributors…

But what does that mean? That means that you are in full control of your creations. You cannot post assets that do infringe on other one's rights.

When does that play in: When Apple will sue Adobe because the iPhone image that you created with generative AI infringes the rights of apple, and when Disney sues Adobe because the Star Wars character infringes on the rights of Disney.

If, however, Adobe sues the customer because they improperly used and sold the asset, they cannot, probably, claim to defend your copyright in the USA. And definitely, the customer's customer cannot be sued, when they violate your “copyright”. 

If you used unlicensed assets to train your AI, then you are on the hook, as you violated others' copyright. You are responsible for the tools you use, and you must assure that the tools are using properly licensed assets for their machine learning and their training.

[djohn101]

I'm sorry, am I confusing "copyright" and "rights?"

"Outputs created entirely by generative artificial intelligence (AI), with no human creative input, are not eligible for copyright protection."

Has Adobe not assigned users an *impossible* task? (Having to have the "rights" to a Generative AI image?) while also publishing guides encouraging Generative AI submissions, as if any of this could be legal to "license?"

https://natlawreview.com/article/copyright-offices-latest-guidance-ai-and-copyrightability#:~:text=O....

[Abambo]

What is: the terms & conditions are intended to protect Adobe against copyright or IP right claims from a third party. If the generative AI picture does not violate someone's rights, the contributor is safe. They just can't claim copyright to their assets if a judge decides so.

They are two different pairs of shoes.

[Nancy OShea · Accepted solution]

Notwithstanding the murkiness of U.S. Copyright Law on machine generated assets, for purposes of this discussion, we're focussing on what is legally free and clear of copyright constraints by another artist or entity.  

Adobe requires contributors to ensure they have 100% ownership rights to all assets they submit to Stock.

https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/submission-guidelines.html

As an example, let's say you use OpenAI to generate images. OpenAI's TERMS of USE gives you ownership rights.

https://openai.com/policies/row-terms-of-use/

CONTENT -- Ownership of content. As between you and OpenAI, and to the extent permitted by applicable law, you (a) retain your ownership rights in Input and (b) own the Output. We hereby assign to you all our right, title, and interest, if any, in and to Output. 

That means you CAN submit your generative AI content to Adobe Stock because you own it. Other AI services are not always this generous. Always read your TERMS of USE.

Hope that helps.

[Abambo]

That means you CAN submit your generative AI content to Adobe Stock because you own it. Other AI services are not always this generous. Always read your TERMS of USE.

By @Nancy OShea

That's more than true. OP is confused about the copyright that the buyers needs to respect against asset ownership of the generative AI user.