> PHOTOSHOP USER>^ OCTOBER 2020[ 122 ]
ANSWERS TO PHOTOSHOP AND GEAR-RELATED QUESTIONS
Absolutely! Your privacy will be maintained. In fact, infor-
mation submitted is anonymous: Your personal information
is not sent to Adobe in conjunction with data collected
through this program. (Adobe does maintain information
about your license to use products, but that database isn’t
connected to the Product Improvement program.)
In a nutshell, when you select that option, c lic k OK
to close the Preferences, then restart Photoshop, you’ll be
helping improve current features and to create new features.
Specifically, features that use “machine learning” send data
about how you’re using those features to a huge database
of information from participating Photoshop users. Those
features “learn” from how effective they are by comparing
results from different users using different images.
I’m sure you’ve heard the term “artificial intelligence,”
perhaps in conjunction with scary science-fiction stories
and movies, generally about how computers are going to
take over the world, enslave humans, and so on. Here’s
Adobe’s definition of machine learning: “Machine learning
is a term that describes how a computer analyzes data and
then makes predictions or provides suggestions based on
what it learns from that data.”
In Photoshop, the features for which data is collected
and sent to Adobe include the Object Selection tool, the
Select>Subject command, Select and Mask, and various
Content-Aware procedures. By evaluating the performance
of these features as you use them, Adobe has an oppor-
tunity to make them more efficient. The program collects
low-resolution versions of images along with the masks(selections) created by the automated features. If you’re
offline at the time, the info is sent the next time you con-
nect. You shouldn’t notice the traffic while working or
when it’s transmitted.
In the Preferences>Product Improvement panel, you’ll
see a Learn More button. Clicking it takes you to a page
on the Adobe website that gives you an overview of
the feature. But there’s much more information available.
First, you’ll be taken to “Adobe Photoshop Improvement
Program.” If you then c lick the link “Adobe Privacy
Policy,” you’ll jump to another page that explains all of
the various ways your information is collected by Adobe,
from product licensing to how the information is trans-
mitted. Of interest to this discussion is another link, this
one called “Adobe Product Improvement Program” (no
“Photoshop” in this link). There, you’ll find the details
about what hardware/software/activity information is
actually collected and sent to Adobe when using various
programs (not just Photoshop).
As far as your friend’s version of Photoshop is concerned,
it’s possible that his license to use Adobe products is part
of an enterprise license; his company may be the licensee,
not him personally. Adobe’s Product Improvement programs
don’t include enterprise licensed products.
The bottom line: The more of us who participate, the
better the program’s features become. As the databases
from which these features “learn” continue to grow, the
more efficient they become; and the more efficient we
become when using these Photoshop features. nI noticed at the bottom of the list of Photoshop’s Preferences an item named Product Improvement.
It looks a little scary. Is it safe for me to participate? (And why doesn’t my buddy see that Preference
option on his version of Photoshop?)—ViktorPETERBAUER
From the Help Desk