TL;DR: Where AI is concerned, Adobe should go first for the LOW HANGING FRUIT: not trying to shove 'Creative AI' in our face all the time (as in Adobe Illustrator...don't think we don't know you are harvesting our "TRY IT NOW" outcomes to train your AI). Why get a machine to do what comes naturally to creatives when you could be getting AI to do what does not come naturally to us (but should come naturally to AI): navigating the technical complexity of an endless labyrinth of upgrades, version differences, UI changes, feature additions and alterations, et al? Remember how useful and valuable R2-D2 was in Star Wars? Remember how he could plug into any access port on the Death Star to help the heroes in their time of need? i.e. How about an AI which intelligently finds & substitutes what is missing or helps the user locate what is missing so we can actually replace it ourselves (instead of just telling us "x is missing, use y instead" and leaving us to hunt for where x might actually be). And make no mistake: at some point, Adobe Creative Cloud has been the "Death Star" to every one of its users. We don't need AI to create for us; we need AI to help us execute our creations more efficiently and effectively using the tools at hand...tools which are always changing, evolving, and are at times utterly unforgiving, enigmatic, overwhelming. and rage-quitting/subscription-cancelling frustrating. You want to revolutionize AI in your industry? Stop trying to create "C3-PO" and focus on building "R2-D2" instead...who was a thousand times more useful to the heroes and one of Star Wars's most beloved characters. C3-PO was generally regarded as annyoing and pretentious comic relief...a flashy gimmick, little more. R2-D2, the unsexy little blue and white trash can on wheels, was the true droid hero. That is Adobe's "best practice" for winning AI assistant in Creative Cloud...one that no creative will see as a threat, and every creative will welcome, applaud, adore, and embrace as their new AI hero. PROVE ME WRONG.
Detailed usage case based on recent experience:
Let me preface this by saying I am NOT a seasoned Adobe expert with 20+ experience using Creative Suite. I have 30+ years PC experience and am usually able to figure issues out or find solutions online. However, Adobe stuff has gotten so complicated, and I am working with a downloaded template not of my creation, where the crux of my idea begins...
So I downloaded the PERFECT After Effects motion graphics template for my new book's trailer. I open it up and (naturally) the effect "Lens Blur" is missing. Don't worry, I am told online, just replace it with the new "Camera Lens Blur" and apply the same settings. Only it's a complex template and I have no idea how to find, let alone replace one effect with another...Adobe document search is useless and there is no "find and replace" as one might expect (like MS-Office has had forever).
On top of that, the font used in the template is "BebasNeue/Type 1" which I have...only I don't. I have "Bebas Neue" AE substitutes some unknown serif font (presumably designated "Type 1" but I can't be sure) and never lists it as a "missing font." Again, since I am working with a template, trying to go in and actually change the font in each title doesn't change it in the final composition. There must be some "master font definition" somewhere in the template which I cannot locate (again, document search is useless).
Now, in BOTH the above cases, the Internet tells me that the solution is "elementary," but that term is wholly reletive to one's experience...for me, who began meditating as a child, achieving insight and inspiration is "elementary," but I am never going to tell others that. I am a creative, not an editor, nor technical expert in the nuts and bolts of fixing other's creations in a .
SURELY, this is where an AI would come in very useful: which would recognize "Lens Blur" as the legacy version of "Camera Lens Blur" and automatically update it, applying the settings from the missing effect to the new effect. Likewise, SURELY, an AI should be able to figure out "BebasNeue" and "Bebas Neue" are the same font, not just from the name but also from recognizing that they are both at least san-serif all caps fonts.
Last but not least, a document search which doesn't provide a comprehensive list of where in the document a term is referenced is utterly pointless. AE tells me "Lens Blur" is missing. If I search the document for "Lens Blur" to find it so I can substitute it, search returns the "Missing Effects" window ONLY. Again, here is where AI would be useful...navigating the near-impossible to figure out counter-intuitive UI of Adobe products, ESPECIALLY AFTER UPDATES.
And if you think all this isn't "sexy" enough...remember the analogy of R2-D2 versus C3-PO...all that glitters is not gold. No one thinks a dog is sexy...but dog is man's best friend. Stop putting FORM over FUNCTION... you are a software company and you make software TOOLS...APPLICATIONS. But your tools have become so bloated and complex they can barely be APPLIED anymore. Make some videos of your AI assistant making those tools easier, more seamless, more efficient and effective...and you will have tens of thousands more creatives signing up to use said tools.
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