At today’s Adobe MAX conference in Miami, Adobe unveiled a suite of new features: third-party AI agents can now directly access and modify Creative Cloud projects, an upgraded Firefly AI assistant, and support for agents to continuously process recurring tasks in the background.
Adobe demonstrated at the conference its integration of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for Creative Cloud. Users are no longer limited to Adobe’s own AI assistant and can instead invoke third-party agents they commonly use. Through MCP, AI agents from companies such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic can directly operate on native project files stored on users’ computers, including Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, and After Effects.
The work completed by the agent can still be taken over by the user at any time, as layers, vector graphics, asset bins, and sequences remain editable. If the agent is connected to other MCP-compatible tools, it can complete the entire workflow across software applications.
For example, users can have an AI agent extract references from Google Docs, invoke Adobe software to complete design tasks, and then send the results to colleagues or clients via Slack. The local MCP integration feature for Creative Cloud is not yet available; Adobe plans to launch a private beta in early 2027.
Adobe also demonstrated AI agents that can work continuously in the background, allowing users to step away from their computers and focus on other tasks. Users simply assign tasks—such as organizing newly received assets, conducting regular quality checks, or preparing content—then review the agent’s work plan and approve the final output.
For example, in social media promotion, the agent can automatically turn received images into promotional materials optimized for different platforms; users only need to check once a day and select approved designs to publish. Adobe has not yet announced when this feature will be tested, but the Firefly AI assistant will be the first to support it.
The Firefly AI assistant beta, powered by Adobe Creative Intelligence technology, has also added several new features. Among them, the new Planning mode allows users to review, modify, and approve the agent’s work plan before task initiation; the model selector enables users to either specify an AI model manually or let the system automatically choose one based on task requirements.
In addition, the Firefly AI assistant is integrated with Firefly Boards and allows users to set preferences for file formats, colors, brand guidelines, roles, and products, which can then be automatically applied to all projects.