😺 🎙️ CORRECTION: Adobe’s CTO: How AI will end creative “grunt work”

PLUS: Learn how Adobe uses AI in their product creation process!

Welcome, humans.

CORRECTION: Apologies for the double send today. An earlier version of this email went out with the wrong spelling of Ely’s name (you can thank the AI for that one!). We’ve corrected it below. Thanks for understanding that bots still get things wrong (and we’re only humans ourselves…) Now, on to the awesome content below!

What if you could just “vibe” your way to a perfect design? Tell an AI assistant what you want, and it builds the app, the website, or the graphic for you.

This is the promise of “vibe coding.” But what happens when the AI is 90% right, and you can't fix that last 10%? You're stuck. This is the core fear for creative professionals: AI as a black box that replaces control instead of adding to it.

Adobe's answer? Make AI a creative “assistant”, not a replacement.

We went to Adobe Max 2025 and sat down with Ely Greenfield, the CTO and SVP of Adobe Creative Products, to get the inside scoop.

In our latest podcast episode, Ely, Grant, and Corey break down Adobe's “additive” approach to AI—making it an assistant that handles the “grunt work” so you can focus on your craft.

Adobe's CTO Reveals the Future of Creative AI (It's Not What You Think)

Fun fact: you might be surprised to hear the feature that got the loudest applause wasn't some mind-bending image generator or crazy video effect.

It was this: an AI that renames your Photoshop layers for you. Seriously.

THIS EPISODE WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY OUR PARTNER…

Clutch Co: To Crawl or Not to Crawl?

AI crawlers are like nosy neighbors: always peeking, sometimes helpful, sometimes not. Clutch surveyed 320 small business leaders to get their reactions, finding:

72% of businesses are worried about them.
71% are hit by bot traffic; 42% cite bandwidth issues.
But 62% say AI search has been a net positive.
With 60% reporting more revenue, 44% more leads, and 42% more traffic.
However, 57% block AI crawlers entirely.

So, crawlers…digital pests or secret growth hack?

Either way, they’re here to stay—just make sure they’re working for you, not against you.

Dive into the full Clutch report.

Here’s some of our favorite moments:

(2:19) The “boring” AI feature that got the biggest applause (hint: it’s not image gen).
(3:50) The end of rotoscoping? How AI now understands and tracks complex objects in video.
(6:39) “Vibe Coding” vs. Assisted Coding: Adobe's core philosophy for creative AI.
(9:06) The “time vs. quality” graph that explains why creatives are so resistant to AI.
(12:19) It’s finally real: How the “CSI enhance button” actually works in Photoshop now.
(13:13) Adobe’s 3-part model strategy: Why they’ll use partner models, build their own, AND let you train yours.
(16:13) How to train a custom Firefly model on your own unique artistic style
(21:40) The 4 pillars of Adobe's AI investments
(23:13) Why Adobe Express is the new “on-ramp” for creators who don’t need the full CC
(27:43) How Adobe uses its own internal marketing teams to guinea pig new AI tools.

Our take: Adobe isn't trying to replace creators. They're trying to eliminate the mind-numbing production work so you can spend more time being creative. It's AI that enhances rather than replaces—and after this conversation, we think they're nailing it.

Watch now: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts

Go deeper with our Adobe Max coverage:

Stay creative,

The Neuron Team

P.S. Ely answered some interesting questions, including where the custom models get trained, and how Adobe’s tech and marketing team uses AI internally. Fun stuff!

That’s all for today, for more AI treats, check out our website.

ICYMI: check out our most recent episodes below!

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NVIDIA’s Kari Briski on how to run your own Nemotron models
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