Adobe’s Own Employees Fear Its AI Tools Will Make Users Unneeded In Their Jobs
Photo 159218761 © Andreistanescu | Dreamstime.com
Adobe staffers are worried the company is “cannibalizing” its own interests by empowering artificial intelligence and trimming all the manual steps that professional creatives are expected—and hired—to do, according to internal conversations seen by Insider.
With the introduction of Firefly, its powerful, “ethical” generative AI system that has allowed users on Photoshop and Illustrator to edit and expand images with simple text prompts, as well instantly churn out color schemes, the creative technology giant has enjoyed one of its most profitable fiscal periods.
Alas, some employees have raised concerns that these features could make the jobs of existing Adobe customers obsolete and encourage companies to slim down their graphic design teams. Members in an internal Slack channel have billed these AI advances as “depressing” and lament about being in an “existential crisis,” per the report.
One senior designer points out that this fear has already become a reality, even while Firefly remains in beta. They cite an advertising business that has begun downsizing its design department after noting the capabilities Firefly brings to Photoshop.
With that, not every worker shares the same level of cynicism, with some defending that AI will improve lives by speeding up and enhancing designers’ workflows, according to Insider.
But one of the loudest grievances is how Adobe might be hurting its own profits when it further amplifies the automation of art creation and editing. Within the company, employees have questioned that if the company’s long-time subscribers will no longer have their roles, who buys its products and services?
Staffers have posed concerns that Adobe may be “in danger of cannibalizing” its earnings if there leaves fewer members to subscribe to Creative Cloud.
At the same time, employees underline that if Adobe’s sales dip as a result of job displacement, the company may start dismissing its own workforce to cut costs too.
Scott Belsky, chief product officer of Adobe, however, has a different argument. “AI will increase the surface area that creatives can consider and explore before finding even better solutions to pursue and iterate,” he tells VentureBeat’s Sharon Goldman on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter. “We see this in early research on how creative pros leverage these new tools: They’ll create more and better content… faster. Not less.”
Shunning shadowy forecasts of a dwindling demand for human creatives, Belsky adds that when “any ambitious or growth-oriented company can get more ‘ingenuity per person,’ they want more people (so they can do more products, create more content, achieve more).” He asserts: “It’s a default human desire.”
when any ambitious or growth oriented company can get more “ingenuity per person,” they want more people (so they can do more products, create more content, achieve more). it’s a default human desire.
— scott belsky (@scottbelsky) July 26, 2023
engineers have become more productive annually for decades, yet demand grows.
[via PetaPixel, Insider, VentureBeat, cover photo 159218761 © Andreistanescu | Dreamstime.com]
