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Issues with AI-generated content on Adobe Stock

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
March 19, 2023
4 replies
10164 views

I use Adobe Stock for a website that covers steampunk news. I also run profiles of steampunk artists. Many artists in the steampunk world are up in arms about generative AI. Some have day jobs as designers and illustrators and see this as an existential threat to their livelihoods.

That's not hyperbole. I know a mid-career designer/illustrator who has been asking friends for advice about making a career change. Then, of course, are all the issues surrounding how the AI models were trained (using copyrighted images on the web). As a result, I have publicly stated that I will NOT use AI-generated content on my site unless its for articles ABOUT generative AI.

Here are the problems as this relates to Adobe Stock: First, the Adobe Stock interface offers no way to filter out AI-generated images, which means I'm wasting a lot of time looking at images I won't use due to my policy. Second, not all AI-generated images are clearly labeled as such. Some have tags that say "AI," but otherwise there's no indication in the description. Third, some images look suspiciously like AI-generated images but there's no label or tag at all. This all has me seriously considering dropping the service when it comes up for renewal.

Some proponents of generative AI have defended it with the claim that using prompts to create artwork is itself an artistic skill. But it's ridiculously easy to create steampunk imagery in Midjourney and other programs - all you have to do is take a subject and modify it with "steampunk," as in "Edgar Allan Poe as a steampunk." So we're seeing a glut of these images on social media, and when I search for steampunk or dieselpunk artwork on Adobe Stock, the search results are now flooded with AI-generated images. This has significantly reduced the value of the service in my eyes.

Correct answer Contributor1

I appreciate your quick response to these types of issues reported here. Can we be reassured that the reports are acted upon by the Moderation team and that the offending assets are removed from the database?

Glad to help with these reports. I escalate each unique issue to be triaged by the team that makes the final decision. Each escalation report is taken very seriously, though I can't guarantee the outcome.

Steampunk ExplorerAuthor

Participating Frequently

@Contributor1 Here's another one. I'm now searching for "steampunk -ai -generative" because some pieces say "generative" but not "ai." So I licensed an image of a steampunk robot that looks like it *could* have been made in Midjourney but is not labeled as AI (or generative). Here is the link: https://stock.adobe.com/images/steampunk-robot-with-defocused-lights-in-the-background/571330047

Then I went into Midjourney and used this prompt to generate an image: "steampunk robot with defocused lights in the background, robot on the left, seen from the neck up, --ar 16:9" I did another one with the same prompt but omitting "from the neck up." I've uploaded the results. You should be able to see the similarities.

Here's the problem with the system Adobe has for reporting these. Even when using search terms to omit AI images, I'm seeing dozens of images like this on Adobe Stock. Some are almost certainly AI generated. With others it's harder to tell just from looking at them. But I can say this: I've been using Adobe Stock off an on for many years. My main purpose has been to license images for a steampunk website. Over that time, I've periodically searched for new steampunk images, so I've always had a pretty good idea of what kinds of steampunk-related images are on the site. In the past few months, I've seen a glut of photorealistic steampunk illustrations I've never seen before. And that happens to coincide with the emergence of the generative AI programs.

But now we're supposed to flag individual images or creators where it appears they might be using AI-generated content? That's like asking us to use a flyswatter for a swarm of locusts. There has to be a better way.

For context, here's an article I wrote on generative AI back in January. In it, I suggested the possibility that stock media sites could some day be overwhelmed with AI-generated images. I never expected that it would happen so soon. https://steampunk-explorer.com/news/ai-generated-imagery-poses-challenges-steampunk-creators

Averee C

Inspiring

Steampunk Seer.

I have to spend so much more time manually filtering ai-generated content (-ai, -generated, -generative, etc. only go so far because users have no incentive to self-identify AI images). Adobe Stock has become a cesspool of ai-generative content and it's only going to continue getting worse from here unless Adobe puts in proper tools to deal with the situation.

C

Contributor1

Community Manager

Yeah its really on Adobe and accepting all of this. The issue is I will probably use other stock sites next time since I know this a problem.

So I tried the "-AI" term (supposedly eliminates the AI photos) on that user and found a number of images that don't have the Generative AI in the description. Like this one

https://stock.adobe.com/images/cozy-modern-living-room-interior-with-orange-armchair-and-decoration-room-on-a-orange-or-white-wall-background/564981562?prev_url=detail

Its not hard to tell this is AI. The funky round side table where the top doesnt line up with the base and then the 3D vase within the photo. This is a useless photo that no professional one will ever use and a waste of Adobe's server space and bandwidth.

This is really annoying because I comped in a low res photo (not this one) for an ad got client approval and later discovered it had all sorts of issues in the details when we saw it full res and I had to spend a decent amount of time fixing the issues.

Update: apparently they also have a bunch labeled IA vs AI too

Hello, I've reported this specific contributor to the content team for review for lacking correct generative AI labels. I agree, there's some questionable quality assets that you've noted and I've added that in the report. I've sent along this forum thread as well to the content team to make sure they understand the full scope of the issue. Thank you for the report and sorry for the problem with the assets.

Steampunk ExplorerAuthor

Participating Frequently

One way to mitigate the presence of so many unlabeled AI-generated images would be to include the date that each image was uploaded. That way we can avoid images uploaded within the past six months or so, when people started generating AI images in high volumes.

Abambo

Community Expert

You can't filter on the date, unfortunately. The correct solution from Adobe would be to block AI contributors until all their generative AI assets are in conformity.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

Steampunk ExplorerAuthor

Participating Frequently

I keep finding more and more images that are almost certainly AI-generated but are not labeled as such. Anyone can see this for themselves. Search for "steampunk -ai." You will see dozens of images that appear to be from Midjourney or similar programs and have no label or tag indicating that they are AI generated. I've spent enough time with Midjourney to know what kinds of images it produces. I have made a pledge to the readers of my website that I will not use AI-generated images. How can I keep this pledge if images are not correctly labeled?

Jill_C

Community Expert

Adobe does not seem to have a systematic way of identifying and deleting Generative AI images that are not properly identified. Thus, reporting them here seems to be the only solution at the moment. I hope they fix this flaw in their database soon, because it's being polluted by poor quality, improperly labeled stuff that is a major nuisance to Buyers.

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

Averee C

Inspiring

I'm going to start creating a new thread for every non-tagged asset that I find. I can't believe Adobe hasn't added a "report" function to the assets yet.

Abambo

Community Expert

Use -ai as a search keyword. If the contributors publish AI and do not abide to the rules, denounce them here. It's the only way to get Adobe stock clean of AI assets, if you do not want them.

BTW: most of the AI I saw, including those I created myself, were completly unusable and full of errors. I think, it is a lot of work and you need to put a lot of effort in the assets to get them usable.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

Steampunk ExplorerAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks! That seems to filter out the images labeled as AI, but I'm still seeing some that are clearly AI but are not labeled. I attached one that wasn't labeled but it's from an artist named "AiCreatorArt." See attached screenshot.

Abambo

Community Expert

@Contributor1 ?

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

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