Adobe has unveiled a new generation of AI agents to help users automate their creative workflows while also allowing third-party AI assistants to work directly inside its flagship software, including Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro.

Announced at the Adobe MAX conference in Miami on November 10, the updates are a major shift towards agentic AI, and means users can delegate more complex, multi-step tasks to AI systems rather than simple prompts to generate images or text.

One of the most significant announcements is a planned integration using the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which will allow third-party AI agents from companies such as OpenAI, Google and Anthropic to work directly with Adobe Creative Cloud applications.

The technology will allow AI assistants to make changes to native project files on a user’s computer, including Photoshop documents, Illustrator artwork and Premiere video-editing projects. Any changes will, however, remain editable, preserving layers, vectors, sequences and other elements of a project.

This means users could potentially ask an AI assistant to retrieve material from Google Docs, create a design using Adobe and share the finished work with the rest of the team in Slack, all as part of one connected workflow.

Adobe says the local MCP integrations are expected to enter private beta in early 2027.

The company also previewed always-on AI agents capable of taking on repetitive creative tasks in the background, even while users aren’t at their desks. This has the potential to take on tasks like organising incoming files, checking content for quality and automatically preparing graphics for social media.

These agents will initially be introduced through Adobe Firefly AI Assistant, although they have not announced a release date.

Firefly AI Assistant is also receiving several upgrades, including a new Plan Mode that allows users to review, edit and approve an AI-generated action plan before the system begins working. A Model Selector will let users choose their preferred AI model or allow Adobe to select one automatically.

Users will also be able to establish brand style guide preferences, which can then apply things like colours, formats, characters and other guidelines consistently across projects.

Adobe’s Creative Agent capabilities are extending into video editing through Premiere, where AI can track masked subjects and apply effects or colour and exposure adjustments across a number of clips. The technology is also coming to Premiere’s mobile app, allowing users to make conversational edits while on the move.

The announcements form part of Adobe’s broader strategy to embed AI assistance throughout its professional creative software portfolio.

The move comes as emerging AI platforms offer their own growing range of image, video and design tools.