Adobe is fully committed to generative AI models and tools, even if that means turning away creators who hate the technology. Artists who refuse to embrace AI in their work “won’t be successful in this new world without using it,” says Alexandru Costin, vice president of generative AI at Adobe.
In an interview with The edgeCostin said he is “not aware” of any plans for Adobe to launch products that don’t include generative AI for creators who prefer to complete tasks manually or are resistant to the way AI is changing the creative industries.
“We have older versions of our products that do not use generational AI, but I would not recommend their use,” Costin said. “Our goal is to make our customers successful, and we believe that to be successful they must embrace technology.”
And according to Adobe’s President of Digital Media, David Wadhwani, the company is unlikely to accommodate creators who feel differently.
“We have always innovated with conviction and we believe in the conviction of what we are doing here,” says Wadhwani, acknowledging that some creatives have been vocal in criticizing Adobe’s adoption of generative AI technology. “People will either agree with that belief or not, but we think our approach is the winner in the short term, but certainly in the long term.”
Adobe is in a tough spot – while many of its customers, especially corporations and large creative teams, are hungry for AI features that can boost productivity, many artists openly hate the technology and fear the consequences that will have this for their livelihood. However, given that demand already exists, Adobe would be risking its dominant position in the creative software market if it ignored what many customers are asking for. If Adobe doesn’t develop these tools, other companies will, and they may not make the effort to do so in a way that respects artists’ work.
There are also communities of people online who have an extreme hatred of AI, regardless of how it is implemented, and who will go out of their way to condemn AI and avoid interacting with it. For example, when a ‘shot-for-shot’ remake of the Princess Mononoke The movie trailer made with Kling recently went viral and was briefly taken offline by its creator after intense backlash from fans of the original Hayao Miyazaki classic who felt the video was disrespectful or downright ugly.
But generative AI features, like those powered by Adobe’s Firefly models, are the most widely used products Adobe has ever released, according to Wadhwani, which is all the signal the company needs to continue down the same path. There are plenty of generative AI models already competing with Adobe’s Firefly series, from both major players like OpenAI and Google, as well as smaller niche startups trying to carve out their own place in the industry. And in many cases, Adobe is the one catching up. The upcoming collaborative canvas “Project Concept,” which also includes text-to-image tools and an AI remix function, is similar to existing apps such as Figma’s FigJam and Kaiber’s Superstudio, for example.
Adobe says it wants to implement AI in a way that gives artists more time to focus on actually being creative instead of completely replacing them, such as making tools more efficient and removing tedious tasks like resizing objects or masking them. The company is essentially trying to appeal to both parties by giving its AI tools very specific purposes within its Creative Cloud applications, rather than pitching them as a means to replace every aspect of content creation.
“If you just rely on AI for all these things, you’re going to get a lot more content that looks like the same content that everyone else is making.”
“We think the demand for content is insatiable. We also think human creativity will be a crucial part of that,” Wadhwani said. “If you just rely on AI for all these things, you’re going to get a lot more content that looks like the same content that everyone else is making.”
What we are likely to see is a wider divide between smaller artists and the wider creative industry. Demand for virtually any type of content, from images and copy for advertisements to the TV shows and other media we consume, is growing rapidly. A study by Adobe shows that this has doubled between 2021 and 2023 and could increase to 2,000 percent by 2025. This forces companies to find new ways to increase production in an affordable way.
Generative AI tools – many of which promise to automate repetitive or technically challenging tasks – are a very attractive solution to meet such demands. But many people still appreciate the work that goes into manual creative processes, and I don’t see that going away completely.
“I think there will be a hunger for artists who do things by hand,” says Wadhwani. “Over the last decade, I can take a photo and put it through a process that makes it look like a painting, but I’m not going to appreciate that ‘painting’ in the same way as an artist who actually took the time to create it. a real painting.”
However, there is little doubt that generative AI is changing the creative landscape. Adobe says the technology will create new jobs, but those jobs will be different and some specialized positions may disappear altogether. It’s also just hard to avoid AI art these days – platforms like Etsy, which were created for makers to sell handmade goods, are now flooded with it, and it’s harder for artists to find fame online now that they have to compete with AI content farms. .
Adobe is the dominant provider of creative design software, and few other companies offer a similarly connected ecosystem of products. That makes it difficult for customers to simply jump ship if they don’t agree with the direction it’s taking, even if they do is trying to be attentive to the way generative AI is implemented. But if the adoption of AI ruffles enough feathers, it could make room for new competitors to appease the users Adobe is leaving behind.
And if the response from online creators is any indication, that’s a significant market that Adobe stands to lose. It seems Adobe thinks the opportunities presented by AI users are even greater.
