Adobe unveils AI agents across Firefly & Creative Cloud at Max

Adobe unveiled a broad set of artificial intelligence and workflow products across Firefly, Creative Cloud and GenStudio at Adobe Max 2026, with the announcements focused on bringing agent-based tools into creative and marketing software.

It outlined updates in four areas: creative workflows, new Firefly products, wider access to Adobe tools through partners and devices, and new enterprise tools for marketing teams.

Among the biggest changes were additions to Firefly. Adobe said its Creative Agent now supports an expanded Firefly AI Assistant in beta, designed to carry out multi-step tasks. New options let users set formats, colours, brand guidelines and characters once, then choose between different models or leave selection on an automatic setting.

Always-on agents are also being introduced in preview, starting with Firefly AI Assistant. They are intended to handle recurring work in the background, including organising incoming assets, checking quality and preparing content for different channels.

Across Creative Cloud, expanded AI Assistants in beta are coming to Illustrator, Premiere, InDesign, After Effects, Frame.io and the Photoshop beta app. In Premiere, the additions include applying effects across all clips in a sequence, tracking masked subjects through a frame, and adjusting colour and exposure across a full sequence at once.

A private beta for Premiere mobile adds natural-language editing tools and first-cut generation from footage. Adobe is also previewing local MCP integrations that allow third-party agents to make changes locally in native Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere and After Effects project files while keeping layers, vectors, bins and sequences editable.

Firefly expansion

Adobe used the event to expand Firefly beyond image generation. New products include Firefly Video, which combines story building and video assembly in one workflow, and Firefly Design, a beta editing space that brings illustration, image editing, animation, 3D and print work onto a single canvas.

Further updates include Firefly Image tools such as Edit Object, Relight and Retouch, along with Quick Actions, a gallery of preset workflows. Firefly Graph, in beta, is aimed at users who want to build repeatable workflows, while Firefly Builder, in private beta, is designed to turn text prompts into prototypes for websites, presentations or apps without code.

Premiere mobile is also adding licensed music through partnerships with UMG and WMG. Adobe said the iPhone app will offer access to hundreds of thousands of tracks for personal, non-commercial videos, while commercially licensed projects can continue to use Adobe Stock Audio.

Core apps

Adobe also outlined updates to its established software. Premiere is adding a new colour grading system called Colour Mode, a Generative Media Tool for creating video, sound effects, soundscapes and music in the timeline, and AI-based audio tools including Enhance Audio, Separate Crosstalk and Separate Sound Source. Generative Remove, in beta, is intended to remove unwanted objects from video and fill the gap.

Photoshop is introducing tools including Relight, Generative Restyle, Remove Tool for related elements, Quick Compare and AI Assisted Editor. Lightroom is adding Glow, Blemish Removal and Open Eyes in beta, alongside improved camera tethering on desktop and iPad.

Illustrator is getting refreshed content libraries and on-canvas Blend controls. InDesign is adding real-time co-editing in beta, Flex Layout for dynamic text frame resizing, and new Check Document and Rewrite functions.

Partnerships

Adobe is extending the reach of its products through partners, including a wider collaboration with Microsoft. That work includes optimised applications for Arm-based Windows PCs and Adobe Express integration in Microsoft Photos.

It also announced a multi-year strategic alliance with Disney. Under the arrangement, Disney's creative teams will use Adobe AI and creative technologies, including custom Firefly Foundry models, in concept development and production work.

Enterprise tools

For business users, Adobe introduced CX Enterprise Coworker in GenStudio, a conversational interface designed to coordinate agents and workflows across planning, content creation and activation. The system draws on Brand Intelligence to keep work aligned with brand standards.

Adobe also added a new Ideation Space in Workfront, where teams can build campaign strategies and briefs using past campaign results, audience data and research. Updates to its 3D Digital Twin Solution add more scenes, materials, lighting and video animations, while Capsules in Firefly Graph for enterprise are intended to turn workflows into applications.

"We're powering a new era of creativity where creative professionals and creators at every experience level have the tools, models and agents they need to bring their biggest ideas to life and stand out with work that reflects their unique taste, style and vision. With demand for content growing across every format and channel, we're delivering new innovations across our product portfolio that expand how creative work happens and put the power of Adobe's tools within reach for even more creatives," said Anil Chakravarthy, president and incoming chief executive officer at Adobe.

Adobe also published new creator research based on a survey of more than 2,000 US creators. It said 78% of creators using creative AI reported faster business or audience growth, 68% said they at least sometimes settle for results that do not fully match their vision, and 77% said the final creative decision should always remain with a human creator.

"The ideas, taste, style and vision that creative professionals bring to their work are what make their work stand out. Our latest Creative Cloud innovations transform our trusted creative tools into agentic, intelligent workflows that give pros the precision, control and flexibility to explore their ideas, streamline their work and stay focused on the creative decisions that make their work uniquely theirs," said Deepa Subramaniam, vice president of product marketing for Creative Cloud at Adobe.