AI has revolutionized the way we use technology, with generative AI enabling creation on a scale never before experienced.
At the heart of our innovations, such as the text-to-image conversion functionality in Adobe Fireflyour family of creative generative AI models and Acrobat AI Assistantwhich can easily summarize and provide answers by analyzing PDFs, we have integrated our AI Ethics framework to ensure that ethical considerations are at the heart of our technological development. In early 2019, we saw that AI was appearing in profound ways in our products and, as such, we knew we needed a framework to assess the impact of AI on our customers and society and what we could do to develop it ethically. path.
As we celebrate the fifth anniversary of our AI Ethics Principles, which are rooted in accountability, responsibility and transparency, I am proud of the progress we have made and even more excited about the future of AI. ethical innovation at Adobe.
When we set out to develop our AI Ethics Principles, we wanted to ensure they remained meaningful and essential to our ability to navigate the future and drive innovation in our products. And because our principles are intentionally designed as practical guidelines – as opposed to theoretical concepts, they are designed to be easily implemented by product and engineering teams. This practical approach allows our principles to remain relevant and effective in the evolving AI landscape.
Developing our AI ethics principles
Before we embarked on developing our AI Ethics Principles, we set a high-level goal: to ensure that our principles were simple, concise, practical, and relevant. This mission guided us in building a cross-functional team comprised of Adobe employees of diverse genders, races, and professional backgrounds. Together, we developed three core principles: accountability, responsibility and transparency.
These principles have become the foundation of our AI ethics governance process. Accountability means having mechanisms in place to receive and respond to feedback or concerns. Accountability involves systems and processes to ensure thoughtful assessment and due diligence. Transparency is about being open with our customers about how we use AI. These principles allowed us to assess the human impact of AI technology and create processes for training, testing, and evaluating products.
Our principles focus on the people who use our technology, reflecting our belief that AI should enhance human creativity and enable users to increase their productivity and innovation. Developing these principles was a collaborative process, drawing on diverse perspectives to identify potential biases and design our tools to be fair to all users. We remain committed to ongoing dialogue with our stakeholders – customers, partners and industry peers – to continually refine our approach and address emerging ethical challenges.
Putting our principles into practice
We used our AI ethics principles to develop a robust framework for evaluating new AI features coming to market. This assessment aims to ensure that our AI technologies are developed and deployed responsibly and ethically, taking into account the risks and potential impacts on users and society as a whole.
With Adobe Firefly’s Text to Image Generator, anyone can create stunning graphics with simple text prompts.
For example, when we launched Firefly, it underwent a rigorous AI ethics review to prevent it from generating content that might perpetuate stereotypes or misinformation. This approach is part of our commitment to mitigating potential harm before it can impact our users or their communities.
Our assessment of AI ethics begins with a comprehensive understanding of how AI is used in a feature, including inputs and outputs. Product teams then engage in a risk discovery exercise to identify potential risks associated with the feature, including considerations related to the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes, hateful content, violence, or unintentional generation of harmful content.
This assessment is an iterative process that I believe must evolve over time to adapt to new technologies and challenges, ensuring that the assessment remains relevant and effective in addressing emerging ethical concerns.
Evolve for the future
Establishing a global AI ethics governance structure has not been without challenges. Evolving our process to meet the pace of innovation at Adobe required close collaboration with the product and engineering teams. We worked alongside them to understand how AI features work, their intended use, and the necessary safeguards. This partnership encouraged product teams to proactively think about mitigating harm and bias early in product development. As a result, product teams have fully embraced the value of ethical innovation because it allows them to streamline workflows and resolve potential issues before my team even identifies them.
In the five years since we began formalizing this process, guided by our AI Ethics Principles, we have helped product and engineering teams scale our innovations in meaningful ways. During the first two years of our evaluation process, we evaluated approximately 125 AI features across all Adobe products. The following year, we achieved the same goal in half the time. Fast forward to this year: in just the first half of the year, we’ve already surpassed that benchmark. This rapid growth reflects our ability to scale effectively, enabling Adobe to accelerate AI innovation while delivering on our commitment to responsible innovation. It also speaks volumes about how our product and engineering teams have come to recognize the value of partnering with my team: this collaboration not only strengthens the integrity of our AI innovations, but helps also to establish trust with our customers.
As we continue to evolve, my team’s focus remains on improving the robustness of our assessments and broadening the scope of ethical considerations. This growth trajectory not only reflects our commitment to ethical innovation, but also positions Adobe as a leader in the responsible use of AI technologies.
Final Thoughts
Over the past five years, my team has transformed our AI ethics principles from theoretical concepts to concrete guidelines integrated into our engineering and product development practices. These principles have become fundamental to our approach, guiding the responsible development and deployment of AI capabilities and ensuring clear communication on the use of AI.
Looking ahead, we remain committed to advancing ethical AI by fostering a culture of transparency, inclusion and accountability. As AI technology evolves, our commitment to these values will help us create innovative solutions that empower the creative community and improve digital experiences.
I am confident that the strong foundation we have established with our AI Ethics Principles will continue to guide our efforts, allowing us to adapt to new challenges while maintaining our commitment to ethical innovation.
