Adobe is extending artificial intelligence across its creative software, adding new tools to Photoshop, Premiere, Illustrator and InDesign while expanding the capabilities of its Firefly platform. The announcements, made at the company’s MAX event in Miami, also point to a broader shift: Adobe is working to make its creative tools available not only inside its own apps, but through third-party AI assistants.

Among the changes are new image- and video-editing features, a prototyping tool in private beta and a local Model Context Protocol (MCP) connection that will let other chatbots interact with selected Adobe capabilities.

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Firefly Expands From Generation To Prototyping

Adobe’s Firefly app is moving further into territory occupied by design and collaboration platforms such as Figma. Its new Builder tool, currently in private beta, is designed to help users create prototypes that communicate early-stage ideas.

Firefly is also gaining tools for creating on-brand charts and editing specific parts of an image without altering other objects. A new AI-powered video feature will let users assemble clips with supporting elements such as images and sound effects. Adobe says its agent will become more proactive and continuously available, allowing it to build context around a user’s work and assist with tasks as they arise. The company is also streamlining quick actions, including background removal and video-thumbnail creation.

More AI Features Across Creative Cloud

The additions build on a steady rollout of AI features across Adobe’s applications, including Photoshop, Express, Premiere and Illustrator. At MAX, Adobe announced further updates: Photoshop is adding a relighting feature and controls for adjusting prompt-based generative styles; Premiere is getting a new professional color-grading system and an object-removal tool for video; and Lightroom is adding corrections for blinking eyes and blemish removal.

Adobe is also broadening its selection of third-party AI models, which already includes technology from Google, Runway, ElevenLabs, Black Forest Labs, OpenAI, Kling and ByteDance. Topaz Labs, the image- and video-enhancement company Adobe recently acquired, is introducing two models: Wonder 4 for upscaling and denoising, and ImageHDR for converting standard images into high-dynamic-range formats.

MCP Opens Another Route Into Adobe Tools

Adobe already offers integrations with ChatGPT and Claude that give users access to some product functions. Its new local MCP is intended to expose additional Creative Cloud capabilities to outside AI assistants, including ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.

Deepa Subramaniam, an Adobe vice president, told TechCrunch that the company is still determining which capabilities to make available. The initial set of endpoints spans Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere, with future expansion shaped by how people use the connection.

“We are still figuring out where and when and how to draw the line,” Subramaniam said. “What we really want to do is to support that creative workflow, how you choose to do it.”

The approach leaves room for Adobe to learn from real-world use rather than setting a fixed boundary from the outset. It also reflects a strategic question facing software companies: how to make their products useful within a growing ecosystem of AI assistants without giving up control over how users access their tools.

A Standard Still Taking Shape

MCP offers a way for AI systems to connect with external tools and services, but its role in creative software remains unsettled. Last month, Figma co-founder Dylan Field argued that MCP is not a perfect standard and that its current design may benefit frontier AI labs more than other participants.

Adobe’s move suggests it is willing to test the protocol while it evolves. If users can bring Adobe capabilities into the assistants and workflows they already rely on, the company could make its creative software more accessible beyond its own interfaces. The challenge will be ensuring that this added flexibility supports creative work without making the experience harder to manage.