This remains unresolved.

The justification for closing this request was that users are shown a CTA and can turn the feature off. Subsequent reports now show that this safeguard is not reliable:

• AI-generated alt text has reportedly overridden existing custom alt text.
• The setting can turn itself back on when user settings are imported.
• Generated descriptions are still being added automatically rather than being presented for review and approval.

That means this is no longer merely a debate about whether an opt-out default is appropriate. Users can deliberately provide reviewed alt text or deliberately disable the feature, yet those choices may not be respected.

Existing human-written accessibility content should never be replaced by generated content without explicit confirmation. An opt-out choice should remain opted out. AI-generated text should not become part of a production document until the user has reviewed and accepted it.

Marking this “Resolved for User” while reports continue to demonstrate loss of control over document content is inaccurate.

The original request remains unchanged and unresolved:

Turn generation off by default.
Generate only when explicitly requested.
Never overwrite existing alt text automatically.
Require review before insertion.
Make the opt-out setting persistent and reliable.

Your AI generated alt text is garbage, and it's beyond insulting that you would push that 2013-era Word quality trash as the default when it is known to override custom alt text.

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs/suggestions/50944502--id-4280504-ai-generated-alt-text-overrode-existi

That this is still ongoing is beyond ridiculous.

Scenario - a small design firm is completing reporting work for an Enterprise level client. Adobe, in their infinite wisdom add their own content to that reporting work, and because this happens by default, and there is no sufficient warning, that Enterprise client ends up suing the design firm out of business.

THAT is the ante here. WHY DON'T ADOBE GET IT?????

The fact that this is “as designed” IS THE ENTIRE PROBLEM.

It may be as Adobe designed, but it is not as any sane user designs.

**NO** AI feature (or any other feature that causes automatic changes to the document without the user’s action or knowledge) should ever be opt-out. Ever. This is UX 101. Breaking it in this manner is essentially deliberately adding malware into the application.

Bug in which AI Alt Text setting turns itself back on when importing user settings:

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs/suggestions/51391918--bug-generative-ai-alt-text-setting-will-turn-its

https://community.adobe.com/questions-671/ai-alt-text-setting-turning-itself-back-on-after-importing-settings-1627312?tid=1627312&postid=7680683#post7680683

ON by default should mean when turned off, the setting stays off. If I have opted out of something, I should not have to opt-out AGAIN after the setting has turned itself back on due to a bug. I find this unacceptable

I strongly disagree that this should be as-designed. As designed by the InDesign team, not real users. Adobe has made many poor decisions over the years, but enabling Generate Alt Text as enabled by default is one of the worst!! PLEASE RECONSIDER and disable this feature by default. It's very, very dangerous.

This is still marked as "Resolved for User", but the original request has not been resolved.

The core request was never about improving the quality of the generated descriptions. It was about default behaviour, consent, review, and workflow control.

Looking at the 21.4 documentation, the feature remains enabled by default for eligible users:

"This feature is automatically turned on for users with unlimited credits."

Alt text is still automatically generated when images are placed, credits are still consumed automatically, and AI-generated content is still being inserted into documents before the user has chosen to generate it.

The improvements in 21.4 appear to focus on accuracy, regeneration, enterprise controls, and administration. Those are welcome improvements, but they do not address the original request:

Turn the feature off by default.
Allow users to opt in.
Allow generation for selected images or all images.
Require review before generated content becomes part of the document.
Provide straightforward auditing and management of generated descriptions.

A feature can be improved without the original concern being resolved.

The request was not "make the generated text better."

The request was "stop automatically generating AI content in production documents unless the user explicitly chooses to do so."

Based on the current 21.4 documentation, that behaviour remains unchanged.

First of all: Thank you for your efforts to promote accessibility, Adobe!

But I totally agree to Eugene's statement: It should NOT be "on by default".

And there's also the financial aspect of it: Every automatically generated alt text costs a credit.
The user should always be asked in advance to agree to this.

I agree to the comment from Eugene, too.

Commenting to say I agree with Eugene.

This should not be considered resolved as the original request and concern have still not been resolved.

Thanks Sunny, appreciate the clarification and the more detailed response.

However, I still think the central concern remains unresolved.

Even if alt text is only generated when an image is placed or replaced, the issue is still that AI-generated text is being added to production documents by default. That is the part many of us are objecting to.

Improving the quality is welcome, but quality improvement does not solve the consent/workflow problem. A better guess is still a guess. In professional workflows, alt text is not harmless background metadata. It is document content. It can be exported, read by assistive technology, reviewed by clients, included in accessibility audits, translated, archived, and carried through regulated or approval-sensitive workflows.

That means it needs the same level of user control as any other content placed into a document.

I also want to push back slightly on the idea that improved handling of icons and graphics “directly addresses” the inaccurate descriptions reported. It may help, but it does not eliminate the risk. We have already seen examples where a keyline/technical element was described as something like a tall blue building, and other users have reported wildly inappropriate or NSFW-style descriptions for graphics. That is not accessibility. That is inaccurate content being inserted under the banner of accessibility.

Making documents more accessible is a good goal. Nobody is arguing against that. But making documents appear accessible by automatically inserting unreliable descriptions is not the same thing. In fact, it can make things worse, because users may believe the accessibility work has been handled when the descriptions are actually wrong, misleading, irrelevant, or inappropriate.

The enterprise admin control is useful, but it does not address individual users, freelancers, small studios, education users, charities, smaller publishers, or corporate users without centralised admin control. Regulated and approval-sensitive work does not only happen inside large enterprise deployments.

The safer design is still:

Gen Alt Text off by default.

Offer to generate alt text when needed.

Allow generation for selected images or all images.

Require user review/approval before generated descriptions become part of the file.

Provide a reliable way to find, audit, edit, or remove generated alt text already added.

I appreciate that 21.4 improves the feature, but this UserVoice request was not only about accuracy. It was about default behaviour, consent, review, reversibility, and trust.

Until AI-generated content is opt-in and reviewable before insertion, I do not think this should be considered resolved.

Related thread:
https://community.adobe.com/questions-671/indesign-generative-ai-options-on-by-default-1561085?tid=1561085&postid=7672456#post7672456

Thank you for the detailed feedback everyone. A few specifics worth clarifying:
Alt text is generated when an image is placed or replaced - not when an existing document is opened. If alt text is appearing in a file you only opened without placing anything, that's a bug we'd want to investigate directly.

Updates in 21.4:
- Improved alt text quality across image types, including better handling of icons and graphics - this directly addresses the inaccurate descriptions reported.
- Fixed an issue where cropped image alt text wasn't generating correctly
- Enterprise admins can now enable or disable this feature from the admin console, built for regulated and approval-sensitive environments.

We know that quality and trust in the output are what make this feature worth using. The 21.4 improvements are a step, and raising accuracy will remain a priority.

Another aspect being overlooked here is document integrity.

Traditionally, opening an InDesign file should not materially alter its content unless the user intentionally edits something. With this feature enabled by default, simply opening legacy documents can now result in machine-generated text being added into production assets.

That changes the relationship users have with the software itself.

For regulated or archived workflows, “opening a document” and “modifying a document” are very different things.

From the home page: "This is a democratized platform and even if you may not have any suggestion, your vote counts." I don't feel like our vote is counting.

This issue is not resolved for any user. A one time CTA alert for a business threatening feature no one asked to have turned on by default is just as effective as a post it note already thrown away in the trash can.

A bad design is a bad design is a bad design. Intentionally designed or not.

As users have clearly stated and Eugene shared from the beginning, this is a massive red flag to have this turned on by default. Especially with the horrifying results already reported by many users in the community forum.

Definitely not resolved.

This feature is poorly designed and even more poorly thought out; there is no process of informing the user when AI text is added to every image in an old document they opened. There is also no process to revert that.

What an expected yet still disappointing response. The entire point of this thread is that feature that is "as designed" sucks and can harm users and businesses.

I agree, this is not resolved.
Adobe should NEVER change customer data by default.

This is not resolved.

Thanks for this great example how to not communicate with the community, especially with power users who are wholehearted fans of the software.

Even the category »Resolved for user« is a punch in the face.

The feature needs to be turned OFF.
The reasons for that have already been mentioned by Eugene Tyson.