Adobe to Offer Free App to Help with Labeling AI-generated Content

Adobe logo is seen on smartphone in this illustration taken June 13, 2022. (Reuters)
Adobe logo is seen on smartphone in this illustration taken June 13, 2022. (Reuters)
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Adobe to Offer Free App to Help with Labeling AI-generated Content

Adobe logo is seen on smartphone in this illustration taken June 13, 2022. (Reuters)
Adobe logo is seen on smartphone in this illustration taken June 13, 2022. (Reuters)

Adobe said on Tuesday it will offer a free web-based app starting next year, aimed at helping the creators of images and videos to get credit for their work used in AI systems.

Since 2019, Adobe and other technology companies have been working on what the firms call "Content Credentials," a sort of digital stamp for photos and videos around the web to denote how they were created.

TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, has already said it will use Content Credentials to help label AI-generated content, Reuters reported.

San Jose, California-based Adobe said it will offer a free service to allow the creators of photos and videos to affix Content Credentials to their work.

In addition to indicating that they authored the content, the creators can also use the free app to signal if they do not want their work to be used by AI training systems that ingest huge amounts of data, the company said.

The use of data in AI training systems has sparked legal responses in multiple industries, with publishers such as the New York Times suing OpenAI, while some other firms have opted to work out licensing deals.

As yet, no large AI company has agreed to abide by Adobe's system for transparency. In a release, Adobe said it was "actively working to drive industry-wide adoption" of its standards.

"By offering creators a simple, free and easy way to attach Content Credentials to what they create, we are helping them preserve the integrity of their work, while enabling a new era of transparency and trust online," Scott Belsky, chief strategy officer and executive vice president for design and emerging products at Adobe, said in a statement.



‘Assassin’s Creed’ Maker Ubisoft Says Regularly Reviews Options after Buyout Report

This photograph taken on February 13, 2024, shows logo of Ubisoft video firm company adorn the main entrance of the company, where a strike call is planned on February 14, 2024, in Montpellier, south of France. (AFP)
This photograph taken on February 13, 2024, shows logo of Ubisoft video firm company adorn the main entrance of the company, where a strike call is planned on February 14, 2024, in Montpellier, south of France. (AFP)
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‘Assassin’s Creed’ Maker Ubisoft Says Regularly Reviews Options after Buyout Report

This photograph taken on February 13, 2024, shows logo of Ubisoft video firm company adorn the main entrance of the company, where a strike call is planned on February 14, 2024, in Montpellier, south of France. (AFP)
This photograph taken on February 13, 2024, shows logo of Ubisoft video firm company adorn the main entrance of the company, where a strike call is planned on February 14, 2024, in Montpellier, south of France. (AFP)

Ubisoft, the maker of the "Assassin's Creed", "Far Cry" and "Watch Dogs" video games, said on Monday it regularly reviewed "all its strategic options", but declined further comment on a recent report of buyout interest.

France's largest video games maker has long been seen as a takeover target and has lost half of its stock market value over the last twelve months. It has been plagued by delays and the underperformance of some of its key titles.

Ubisoft said in a statement that it would inform the market if and when appropriate. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment further when asked by Reuters whether the company had received any approach from potential bidders.

Monday's statement followed a report last week by Bloomberg News that Ubisoft's founding family, the Guillemots, and Chinese tech giant Tencent, were considering a buyout.

Shares in Ubisoft initially rose by up to 6% on Monday after the statement, topping the SBF 120 index, but reversed course and were down 1.8% at 0905 GMT.

The Guillemot family and Tencent together hold close to 25% of Ubisoft's share capital, LSEG data shows, after a deal in 2022 that saw the Chinese group acquire close to half of the Guillemots' holding.

The move capped a difficult period at Ubisoft, marked by a succession of delays of new video games and management changes.

Ubisoft's stock price slipped further last month after weaker-than-expected quarterly sales.

An underwhelming start for its new game "Star Wars Outlaws" followed the postponement of the launch of "Assassin’s Creed Shadows" by three months to February.

Ubisoft had hoped the two games would help turn around its performance as it implements cost cuts to manage its debt.