Adobe’s latest announcement could be just what investors eager to see companies start to make money from artificial intelligence have been waiting for.
The software company said on Wednesday that its Firefly Video Model will now be available in public beta. Subscribers can use it to create videos straight from text entries, turn existing photos into videos, and change the camera angles of those clips using a variety of prompts.
The video creation tool will be available at prices within two tiers: Firefly Standard and Firefly Pro. Firefly Standard starts at $9.99 a month while Pro starts at $29.99.
“As we introduce Firefly capabilities, especially with the introduction of video, it gives us an opportunity to provide these new tiers that are additive that are going to bring a lot of value to our customers,” David Wadhwani, president of Adobe’s digital media business, said in an interview with Barron’s.
Adobe stock has been under pressure as investors juggle two concerns about the company: Competition in AI is intense, and Adobe hasn’t cashed in significantly as it has rolled out the technology. Shares have dropped about 24% over the past 12 months.
Generative AI is seemingly everywhere. Teachers have to make sure their students aren’t using ChatGPT to write essays, social media users wonder whether the photos they see are fake, and AI chatbots are becoming increasingly common as assistants that help website users to solve problems.
Adobe hasn’t hung back. In May 2023, the parent of Photoshop and Premiere Pro unveiled Firefly, which has been offered starting at $4.99 a month and gives users the ability to create images from text using gen-AI. And last September, Adobe presented Firefly Video, a gen-AI video creator and editor. That was only available in private beta, until now.
But guidance on revenue Adobe provided in December disappointed investors, sending the stock down 14%. Users paying more to get access to video creation capabilities could help push the company in the direction investors have been hoping for, showing shareholders it is getting a return on its AI spending.
While competition is still a concern, with other AI video generators on the market, Wadhwani told Barron’s that Adobe’s product stands out from the crowd because it is safe to use in a commercial sense.
“This is a major selling point to many of our customers,” said Ely Greenfield, chief technology officer of Adobe’s Digital Media business. “We only train Firefly generative AI models on content that we have permission to use.” That begins with Adobe stock license content, which is a library of hundreds of millions of assets that have been collected over the years, Greenfield said.
“None of our customers have to worry about infringing on other people’s copyrights, or changing laws or regulations or brand reputation from using generative AI,” Greenfield said.