Adobe is significantly expanding its artificial intelligence capabilities across its core software suite, introducing a wave of new features and tools for Photoshop, Premiere, Illustrator, and InDesign. Revealed during the company's MAX event in Miami, the updates bring proactive AI agents, advanced video and image manipulation systems, and a direct challenge to competing design platforms. The company is also expanding AI capabilities in its creative tool, Firefly, and releasing a Model Context Protocol that lets other chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini use Adobe features.
The Firefly app is stepping into territory traditionally dominated by Figma with the introduction of a new prototyping tool currently in private beta, known as Builder. This addition allows users to rapidly create designs to showcase ideas. Firefly is also gaining a tool to build on-brand graphs, an image-editing feature that permits editing specific parts of an image without altering neighboring objects, and an AI-powered video tool designed to assemble videos from various clips, images, and sound effects. Furthermore, the company is making its agent proactive and always on so that it can gather more context about work and be present for any action.
Key takeaways
- Adobe announced new AI features for Photoshop, Premiere, Illustrator, and InDesign at its MAX event in Miami.
- Firefly introduced a private beta prototyping tool called Builder to compete directly with Figma.
- A local Model Context Protocol allows external chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to access Adobe features.
- Topaz Labs released Wonder 4 and ImageHDR models for image upscaling, denoising, and HDR conversion.
New Creative Features Across Flagship Apps
Photoshop receives a fresh relighting feature alongside prompt-based generative style sliders. Premiere is equipped with a new professional color grading system and an object removal feature tailored for video editing. Meanwhile, Lightroom introduces practical utility additions, including a blemish removal tool and a function designed to correct blinking eyes. These join existing quick action capabilities, such as removing image backgrounds or generating video thumbnails effortlessly.
Adobe is also integrating technologies from its recent acquisition, Topaz Labs, which is releasing two distinct image models. Wonder 4 focuses on upscaling and denoising, while ImageHDR converts standard images into high dynamic range formats. These models sit alongside existing third-party options from providers such as OpenAI, Google, Runway, ElevenLabs, Black Forest Labs, Kling, and ByteDance, offering creators a broad array of choices for their workflows.
Integrating AI Agents and Chatbot Support
The company is shifting its AI agent toward a proactive, always-on framework to better understand creative work contexts and assist with actions. Users can perform quick tasks like background removal or video thumbnail generation more seamlessly than before. Expanding on previous integrations with ChatGPT and Claude, Adobe is releasing a local Model Context Protocol endpoint to expose Creative Cloud application features to external chatbots.
Adobe vice president Deepa Subramaniam noted that the company is currently exposing endpoints across Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere to monitor how users incorporate them into their creative workflows, relying on ongoing user feedback to guide future development. Subramaniam emphasized that the goal is to support whatever creative workflow the user chooses without artificial limitations on the endpoint capabilities, even as industry figures debate the standardization of such protocols across different software ecosystems.
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