Adobe’s (ADBE) shares rose over 3% at the start of trading on Wednesday after pulling back the curtain on the Firefly AI Assistant. The creative software giant said the upcoming tool “marks a fundamental shift” in how creative work is done and plans to introduce it to AI startup Anthropic’s flagship Claude AI model.
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Adobe Plans Beta Launch of AI Assistant
The introduction of the assistant comes as Adobe’s shares have lagged this year and last week plunged to a one-year low. Worries have mounted over the California-based company’s AI strategy, even as fears that cutting-edge tools from upstarts like Anthropic could render traditional software vendors obsolete have grabbed the industry by the throat.
Adobe first introduced Firefly as a family of creative generative AI models in March 2023, offering image and text effects generation. Now, the company plans to introduce the AI assistant to the tool, providing a single conversational interface where users can use their own words to direct multi-step workflows that the system executes autonomously.
This assistant — which Adobe said will launch in public beta in Firefly over the coming week — will work across the Adobe family of creative apps, including Photoshop, Premiere, and Lightroom, seamlessly remembering context and therefore “eliminating the need to start from scratch.”
Adobe to Add Anthropic’s Claude AI Model to Roster
Adobe further noted that it has significantly expanded the video and image editing capabilities of Firefly, with the addition of features such as studio-quality sound and advanced color adjustments. The tool now boasts more than 30 creative AI models, including Google’s (GOOGL) Nano Banana 2 and Veo 3.1 and ElevenLab’s Multilingual v2.
“Together with Adobe, we’re exploring new ways to help creators conceptualize a project in Claude and reach straight into Adobe Firefly to execute it,” noted Paul Smith, Anthropic’s chief commercial officer, about the startup’s partnership with Adobe. “That can bring about a meaningful change in how creative work gets done.”
Is Adobe a Good Stock Buy Right Now?
On Wall Street, analysts’ consensus rating on Adobe’s shares remains a Hold. This is based on nine Buys, 14 Holds, and three Sells assigned by 26 analysts over the past three months.
However, the average ADBE price target of $316.96 suggests about 31% upside from current trading levels.
