‘If you don’t use AI you can’t compete’, Adobe VP tells me

At Adobe MAX 2024 I had the chance to sit down with Adobe‘s Vice President of Generative AI, Alexandru Costin who set out the company’s approach to AI and how it’s been influenced by a track record of introducing disruptive technology.

The headline is clear, use AI or fall behind. He told me at a briefing from MAX 2024, “we’re embracing the technology, we’re putting it in our tools, and we’re asking you and hoping you use it, because you can be very successful in this new world [if you] use the tech. If you don’t use the tech, you won’t compete with other creatives that use the tech.”

Here’s the thing, here Alexandru was referring to Adobe’s historic tech as much as new AI tools, demonstrating how Adobe has always introduced new, disruptive technology into its software. He lists bringing PDF and vector formats to market, developing digital photography and photo editing tools as well Macromedia Flash for creating internet animation, and for Alexandru bringing AI tools to Adobe products is no different, it’s the “same playbook,” he said.

He told me he hears the same questions now as he did back then, with creatives asking, “Are you leaving me behind?” and, “How is it going to move my world?” His answer then, and now with AI, is the same: “We’re embracing the technology, we’re putting it in our tools, and we’re asking you, and hoping you, use it, because you can be very successful in this new world with using the tech”.

Alexandru explained how there are more designers now than in all of human history, and the need for more content is greater than any time he has seen. Against this background, creatives need as many tools to help them as possible. And for Alexandru and Adobe, AI is just another new technology they see to help designers compete, improve and grow, just as they did in years on by

“The ones that wanted to change and embrace the new technology, they succeeded in this new world,” he reflected on those who adopted previous Adobe tools. He told me: “So this is the same playbook we’re applying with Gen AI. We’re putting it at their disposal in our tools. We want them to be successful. We really wake up every day thinking how to make creative community successful, and we hope they use it, and if they don’t want to use it for various reasons, we think it’s going to be hard for them to compete with other creative professionals that do use it.”

We’re currently living with the disruption AI is causing, and the future for creatives can seem bleak if you’re one of those artists who doesn’t like the technology. But Alexandru is optimistic for how AI and art can coexist in the future, and how Adobe’s vision is about enabling artists and creatives to control AI and its outputs, and not be controlled by it.

He points to Adobe’s new tools like Project Concept, an AI-first infinite canvas that enables creatives to remix AI generated art and define the outcome. Likewise some of the Adobe Sneaks I saw at MAX 2024 were focused on control, such as Project Scenic that enables the creation of a 3D scene to adjust and place cameras, to then render a 2D illustration, giving designers more control over the final composition. Or Project Turnable that enables any 2D illustration to be spun 360 degrees as if it were a 3D model, perfect for creating new compositions.

“We are really working hard to create the best control mechanism in the industry,” says Alexandru, adding: “Our customers want to tell a story. They know exactly what’s in their head, and they want perfect control to tell the story they want. So we’re investing in control.”

Looking ahead, Alexandru explains how the future of AI in art, for Adobe, is to make all artists “mini creative directors” that can use generative AI to explore ideas but not have it dictate the outcome. “We think that the role of the creative will become orchestrators and storytellers,” he says, suggesting a better world, once the ‘prompt era’ is over.