Adobe has been accepting AI with open arms. The company has made swift changes to Adobe Stock with new AI tools and has also introduced AI to its other plans, such as Adobe Creative Cloud and Photoshop. We did write about how we want a Photoshop plan with AI for photographers, but the company is clearly not listening. On April 9, the tech giant announced a new plan where AI agents will help photographers. This is not only applicable to Photoshop but also to other Adobe software, including Premiere Pro. What exactly is the role of AI agents? Let’s dive in.
As per its blog, these new AI-powered Actions are supposed to help create and access various edits with just a click. An AI agent, thus, will handle repetitive tasks such as exporting resized images, one-click edits, and even suggest tips in the app to learn more about the software. This means that the new Action panel allows Firefly AI to scan an image, recommend edits, and then make those changes it suggests through just one click.
In addition, the Action panel will also allow photographers to use natural language prompts to work with over a thousand one-click actions in Photoshop. “Our vision is for Photoshop to be able to analyze your image and recommend smart, context-aware edits. Want a more dramatic sky? Photoshop could not only spot the opportunity to improve your image but also take the action for you with a single click, while keeping you in control,” wrote Ely Greenfield, Adobe’s Digital Media Business Chief Technology Officer, in a blog.
However, Adobe quickly adds that these AI agents are “not creatives” but designed to “empower” users. The company further believes that the new tool will also provide “insights and create content” that users “wouldn’t otherwise be able to and enable creative professionals to scale and amplify their impact more than ever.” Adobe’s “first creative agent” is set to be unveiled at MAX London, which will occur on 24 April.
To put things into perspective, Adobe’s policies have been pretty off the rocks. The FTC filed a lawsuit against Adobe for the difficulty in canceling their plans; they also made money from cancellation plans, and their Lightroom and Photoshop announcements at Adobe Max 2024 revealed they don’t care about photographers. The AI agents further add to the mayhem.
Our concern so far has been with the unethical use of AI around the world. Whether it is ChatGPT, Midjourney or Adobe, none of the companies have been too transparent about how their AI works or how they train their data models. There was one point when Adobe said they could access all your images anyway, including non-disclosure agreements as part of its “content moderation” rules to fight against illegal and child sexual abuse material. While they changed their stance later, the damage was done. Similarly, now, with AI agent edits, we aren’t sure how much access Adobe has to our files. There is also the fear that the analysis of images for editing could also pose a threat to data privacy.
On paper, an AI agent may sound pretty impressive to some people, but then again, there is so much we don’t know now. There is also the challenge of more companies making photographers work for extra hours just because an AI agent can do their task swiftly. This also poses a challenge to one’s creativity and its dilution. In fact, if a client is unhappy, they may even ask for the file from the photographer to work on the edits themselves.
