Gerald Carter states on the podcast that his company, Diversity Photos, filed claims against Adobe Inc. after alleging that Adobe used their licensed images to train its generative AI model, Firefly, beyond the scope of their agreement.
The dispute centers on three core allegations described in the episode:
Breach of contract
Carter argues the license granted to Adobe was for promoting and distributing their work — not for AI model training. Adobe reportedly relied on language allowing “new features and services” to justify use in Firefly.Copyright-related claims
Including direct and contributory copyright infringement, particularly around AI training use.Negligence / metadata stripping
Carter claims images were made available online without watermark or copyright metadata, enabling downstream AI systems (e.g., third-party models) to ingest them.
The case did not proceed in court in the traditional sense. The contract required arbitration, and according to Carter:
Most claims were dismissed in arbitration.
One negligence claim survived initially.
The process became cost-prohibitive (projected ~$100K).
The matter concluded without prejudice due to inability to continue funding arbitration.
Adobe allegedly attempted a discretionary “bonus” payment (~$1,100) for dataset usage, which Carter rejected.
A Forbes article by Jasmine Browley. That piece frames the broader tension between creators who built digital businesses under one set of platform norms and the shift toward AI systems trained on that content.
