Ars Technica reports on yet another major tech company using AI as an excuse to significantly increase the price of their subscription services:
Subscribers to Adobe’s multi-app subscription plan, Creative Cloud All Apps, will be charged more starting on June 17 to accommodate for new generative AI features.
Adobe’s announcement, spotted by MakeUseOf, says the change will affect North American subscribers to the Creative Cloud All Apps plan, which Adobe is renaming Creative Cloud Pro. Starting on June 17, Adobe will automatically renew Creative Cloud All Apps subscribers into the Creative Cloud Pro subscription, which will be $70 per month for individuals who commit to an annual plan, up from $60 for Creative Cloud All Apps. Annual plans for students and teachers plans are moving from $35/month to $40/month, and annual teams pricing will go from $90/month to $100/month. Monthly (non-annual) subscriptions are also increasing, from $90 to $105.
Further, in an apparent attempt to push generative AI users to more expensive subscriptions, as of June 17, Adobe will give new single-app subscribers just 25 generative AI credits instead of the current 500.
Ars Technica
The current trend of general AI enshittification of services and software is really astounding. While I do like AI and I do use it for some things, I really dislike the fact that it is creeping into every single aspect of computing. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to avoid having it shoved down your throat whether it makes sense in a certain context or not.
It’s no surprise that companies are using it as an excuse to significantly increase the cost of their subscription services. I already massively dislike subscriptions and avoid them whenever I possibly can. This just reenforces that view. In this particular case, I use the products from Affinity for my digital media needs because it is a one-time purchase.
I’m not the only one with this view of it though:
“I don’t need more AI in my life”
By automatically forcing customers onto a more expensive plan, Adobe risks upsetting, disrupting, and confusing customers, even though the company is emailing customers about the change. The changes also give credence to fears that many customers had when Adobe started incorporating generative AI into its offerings.
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Another Redditor, Bmorgan1983, commented, “This is dumb. I don’t need more AI in my life.”
Adobe isn’t the only creative software company seeking to use generative AI to pull more money from customers. Last year, Canva announced new AI capabilities that led to 300 percent price hikes for some business customers. After customer backlash, Canva partially relented in October by allowing teams users to add up to four users for free instead of charging them per user.
Like Canva, Adobe is trying to introduce new features and be part of the generative AI boom while maintaining interest from creative customers, who are often long-time users who may not be interested in many of these added capabilities. For now, it seems that the former is being prioritized.
Ars Technica
You can find the original article on Ars Technica.
