In June 2024, Adobe pushed updated Terms of Use to all Creative Cloud users that required mandatory acceptance before they could continue using their software. The language alarmed many users and creative professionals who believed Adobe was claiming the right to use their personal work to train AI models. Adobe published clarifications and then released fully revised terms later that month.

The controversy centered on Section 4.2 of Adobe's terms, which granted Adobe a broad license to user content, alongside separate language allowing Adobe to access content for "content review" via automated and manual methods. A social media post about the update went viral with over 5 million views. Adobe published clarifications on June 6 and June 10 stating it does not and will not train generative AI on user content without consent, then released revised terms on June 24, 2024. Separately, on June 17, 2024, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed suit against Adobe over alleged dark patterns in subscription cancellation flows — a distinct but concurrent controversy.