Adobe has been hit with a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing the company of improperly using authors’ copyrighted works to train its artificial intelligence systems, adding to a growing wave of legal challenges confronting the AI industry.
The complaint, filed in the United States, alleges that Adobe incorporated protected texts and creative works into the training data for its AI tools without obtaining proper consent or providing compensation to the original creators. Plaintiffs argue that this practice violates copyright law and undermines the rights of writers and other content creators whose work forms the backbone of generative AI models.
According to the filing, Adobe’s AI products, which are increasingly embedded across its Creative Cloud suite, rely on vast datasets that allegedly include copyrighted material scraped or sourced without clear authorization. The lawsuit claims this allows the company to profit from creators’ labor while depriving them of control over how their work is used.
Adobe has positioned itself as a more “creator-friendly” AI company compared with some rivals, frequently highlighting that its Firefly AI models are trained on licensed content, Adobe Stock images, and public-domain material. However, the plaintiffs contend that, in practice, the company’s training processes extend beyond those assurances, raising questions about transparency and compliance.
The case joins a series of high-profile copyright lawsuits targeting AI developers, including actions against OpenAI, Meta, Google, and Stability AI. Rights holders across publishing, music, and visual arts have increasingly challenged the legal foundation of large-scale data scraping used to train generative models, arguing that existing copyright frameworks have not kept pace with AI development.
Legal experts note that the outcome of such cases could have far-reaching implications for how AI systems are trained, potentially forcing companies to rethink data sourcing, licensing models, and revenue-sharing arrangements with creators. Courts are still grappling with whether AI training qualifies as fair use or constitutes infringement, making these cases pivotal for the future of the industry.
Adobe has not publicly commented in detail on the specific lawsuit, but the company has previously stated that it is committed to responsible AI development and respecting creators’ rights. The case is expected to test those claims as it moves through the courts.
