Adobe Wipes Out ‘Ansel Adams-Style’ AI Images After Riling Up His Estate
Interpretive sign at the Snake River Overlook in Grand Teton National Park honoring Ansel Adams. Photo 194833663 © Mkopka | Dreamstime.com
Adobe has been mulling in the digital darkroom over artificial intelligence-generated images styled after the famous photographer Ansel Adams from Adobe Stock, following pressing concerns raised by Adams’ estate. The decision highlights ongoing tensions between artists, their representatives, and the burgeoning field of AI-created content.
The noir drama erupted when Adams’ estate discovered that the stock library was offering AI-generated pictures mimicking Adams’ signature black-and-white landscapes. These images, tagged as “Nature’s Symphony: Ansel Adams-Style Landscape Photography AI Generated,” were available for free with a subscription or for around US$80 with an extended license. Crucially, none of the revenue would be pocketed by Adams’ estate.
Frustrated, the estate turned to social media and explained that it had reached out to Adobe on multiple occasions since August last year over similar matters. “Adobe, you are officially on our last nerve with this behavior,” it lamented on Threads, where it also posted a screenshot of the offending faux-tographs.
In response to the public complaint, Adobe took down the unauthorized works, citing their violation of its Generative AI content policy, which requires contributors to respect third-party rights and refrain from creating content that infringes on copyrighted material or personal information.
Although the creative tech giant offers an indemnity program promising to cover legal costs if users are sued for copyright infringement arising from works created using its AI features, it’s unclear whether these images were crafted using Adobe Firefly or a different service. Further, the user should follow the terms of service and be wary about potentially infringing on intellectual property.
However, while Adobe has filtered out “generative AI” content in searches for “Ansel Adams” the AI filter remains active for broader searches.
The estate of Ansel Adams has expressed gratitude to Adobe for removing the infringing images, hoping this removal is permanent.
“We don’t have a problem with anyone taking inspiration from Ansel’s photography,” the Ansel Adams estate stresses, “but we strenuously object to the unauthorized use of his name to sell products of any kind, including digital products, and this includes AI-generated output—regardless of whether his name has been used on the input side, or whether a given model has been trained on his work. Those are separate issues.”
