How to Protect Your Designs from AI Training and Theft in Adobe
As generative AI becomes more widespread, designers are increasingly concerned about how their work is collected, analyzed, and reused for AI training. If you use the Adobe ecosystem, there are specific tools and settings you should enable to protect your designs from AI training, scraping, and unauthorized reuse. This guide explains the most effective ways to secure your creative work inside Adobe.
Feb 5, 2026
5 min
1. Opt Out of Adobe AI Training (Essential Step)
Adobe may use content stored on its servers to help train generative AI models such as Firefly. This is enabled by default and must be disabled manually.
How to disable AI training
From a web browser
Log in to your Adobe account
Go to Privacy & Data
Turn off Content Analysis under Data & Privacy
From Photoshop
Go to Edit → Preferences → Product Improvement
Disable the option allowing Adobe to use your images for AI training
Important:
This setting applies only to cloud-stored content, including Adobe Cloud Documents, Behance, and Adobe Stock.
2. Use Content Credentials to Protect Your Work
Content Credentials are Adobe’s built-in system for creator attribution and AI usage signaling. They function as a secure, tamper-evident metadata layer that identifies you as the creator and communicates how your work may be used.
How to apply Content Credentials:
In Photoshop or Lightroom
Enable Content Credentials during export
Attach your verified name and social accounts
Adobe Content Authenticity Web App (Beta)
Upload your files
Apply creator attribution and enable “Do Not Train” preferences
Why this matters:
Content Credentials use cryptographically signed metadata and invisible watermarking designed to persist even after screenshots, reposting, or minor edits.
3. Enable “Do Not Train” Signals for AI Models
Adobe is a founding member of the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), which aims to standardize digital provenance and AI transparency.
When Content Credentials are enabled, you can attach a “Do Not Train” signal that explicitly tells AI systems — including Adobe Firefly — not to use your work for future training or style imitation.
You can verify that your credentials are still intact using Adobe’s public Verify tool.
4. Protect Your Designs Before Sharing Online
If you publish work on platforms like Behance or other Adobe services, additional precautions are recommended:
Visible watermarking (Add a hard-to-remove watermark using Photoshop.)
Lower-resolution exports (Upload reduced-quality versions to limit their usefulness for AI training or commercial reuse.)
These steps add friction and discourage automated scraping.
5. Use “Do Not Train” Metadata on Export
When exporting JPEG or PNG files, ensure usage-restricting metadata is included. For supported platforms, Content Credentials automatically embed “Do Not Train” signals, making this step effortless once enabled.
Disclaimer: No Protection Is 100% Foolproof
While these steps — especially opting out of AI training and using Content Credentials — significantly reduce the risk of AI misuse, no solution is completely bulletproof.
For maximum protection, consider combining Adobe’s tools with third-party anti-AI solutions such as Nightshade or Glaze.
