Adobe Stock Officially Accepts AI-Generated Images into Its Library

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Today, Adobe Stock announced that they are accepting illustrations created with generative AI models – or, simply put, AI-generated images. 

As of now, they have new submission guidelines for this type of content that they say ensures AI content is used responsibly and ethically. 

This makes them one of the first main stock photo services accepting AI images from contributors and, thus, one of the first to license AI-generated content as stock.

Read on as we tell you all about it!

Adobe Stock’s New AI Content Policy

In their announcement, the company stated they believe and are strongly committed to embracing the power of AI content creation and synthetic media as a resource to empower and enhance human creativity (not to replace it) and to do it responsibly and transparently that respects everyone’s intellectual rights. 

They had already expressed this sentiment not long ago at the Adobe Max 2022 conference, where they revealed their new digital provenance technology that includes all relevant details about the source of a media file right into it, developed by the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) that they also founded and that they hope will become an industry standard. 

But their new AI content submission guidelines make this even clearer. In Adobe’s own words, they hope to give both contributors and stock image buyers more opportunities to expand their creativity. 

Here are the highlights of their new submission policy

  • All contributors are required to label, title, and tag their content as AI-generated when it is the case. As a customer, you’ll be able to identify which illustrations on Adobe Stock are AI-generated easily.
  • They must ensure broad commercial rights over the content – this implies reading the terms of use of the AI generative model they employed to create the visuals and submitting only those that give full commercial rights over the content. 
  • All AI-generated images must be labeled as illustrations, even if they’re photorrealistic – only photos shot with a camera can be labeled as photography on Adobe Stock.
  • They do not allow submissions that contain third-party content, such as recognizable faces or trademarks (like brands or logos), or even other artists’ styles, as part of the prompt, without express authorization.
  • Images that portray real people require model releases. The same applies to private property or places that exist in real life (property releases are necessary). 

What AI Content Can You Expect to Find in Adobe Stock 

All AI content submissions will be checked against the above listed, and the existing creative and technical standards to be approved into the Adobe Stock collection. 

This means you can expect to find creatively beautiful, commercially valuable, visually trendy, and transparently labeled AI-generated illustrations ready to download and use. 

The images will be under Adobe Stock’s Standard license agreement, which covers commercial use, and includes a legal indemnification guarantee in the case of copyright claims. 

By buying AI-generated images from Adobe Stock, you will be getting pictures that are legally much safer, and that likely will have a higher visual appeal than other content out there. 

Adobe is Openly Embracing AI Image Generation Tech

As they disclosed during the Adobe Max 2022 event, Adobe is working on their proprietary AI image generation software that will be soon introduced into the Creative Cloud platform, particularly Adobe Express and Photoshop. 

It is interesting that they aligned their submission policy for all contributors to accept synthetic imagery. According to the company, this aligns with its historical stance of accompanying the creative community in its evolution. 

By accepting AI-generated content, they are allowing artists to use the power of the new AI image generators for their commercial gain. These images will be sold under their regular pricing, and contributors will receive the same royalty rates for those sales. 

This sets them apart from competitors such as Shutterstock, which does not accept AI image submissions from third-party tools at this time, or Getty Images and iStock, which do not accept AI-generated content at all, for example.

What are your thoughts? Are you going to buy AI-generated images at Adobe Stock?

Image credit: Screenshot Adobe Blog: Left: Adobe Stock / Art Master, Middle: Adobe Stock /Robert Kneschke, Right: Adobe Stock / Forest Spirit.

Ivanna Attié
Ivanna Attié

I am Content Manager, Researcher, and Author in StockPhotoSecrets.com and Stock Photo Press and its many stock media-oriented publications. I am a passionate communicator with a love for visual imagery and an inexhaustible thirst for knowledge. Lucky enough to enter the wonderful world of stock photography working side-by-side with experienced experts, I am happy to share my research, insights, and advice about image licensing, stock photography offers, and the stock media industry with everyone in the creative community. My background is in Communication and Journalism, and I also love literature and performing arts.

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