Firefly 3: AI updates generate excitement at Adobe MAX London
AI, anxiety, and collaboration
Among his amusing anecdotes and career journey, headline speaker Louis Theroux revealed how imposter syndrome and being sensitive have helped him become such a successful documentary presenter and filmmaker.
“The term imposter syndrome is sometimes overused,” he said. “But it’s overused because so many of us relate to the idea that we’re struggling, or that other people got the manual and the guidebook and we didn’t…. yet those voices, that feeling of being an impostor, it keeps you humble. So there’s value in that. But if you listen to it too much, you will disable yourself from being able to realise things that you’re good at.
“I was always a listener,” he continued. “I was always someone who paid attention to people. I related to the sense of not fitting in and that made me sensitive. And I think being sensitive is both a curse and a gift. It’s a curse because you take things to heart… but it also means that you’re paying attention all the time when you go into a [new] setting. Speaking for myself, I have always enjoyed listening to people, especially people that I saw as somehow at loggerheads with the world. So in the context of documentary making, it’s the best quality you can have.”
Theroux confessed he is a worrier and “wastes a lot of time with needless angst”. He told the audience not to fear failure: “The truth is, it’s only by getting things wrong, that you get things right and you have to punch in and not be not be afraid to to mess up. It’s that simple, [don’t] be afraid to solicit feedback to see how things could be done differently
“In some ways anxiety makes you conscientious,” he added. “Deadlines almost have the force of an execution, you basically take them seriously and you do the job. But there’s a point where you’re actually just punishing yourself. Also, maybe because I’m a bit thin skinned, I’ve sometimes not been collaborative, but you can save yourself so much time just by actually getting input. Basically don’t be afraid to show your work to other people.
“One of the things I love about television is how collaborative it is; you work with a team and they see things in you that you haven’t seen yourself, but you also see things in them that they don’t see in themselves.”
Between the lines
During the breaks and networking sessions, I chatted to a large number of attendees – there were people from Venezuela, Belgium, Columbia, London and SE England (all were graphic designers). Cautious interest in AI seems to be best way to describe the reaction to the announcements. Many raised concerns about well-publicised controversies around AI, but there was also acknowledgment of the ‘safe content’ message Adobe was at pains to get across at several times during the keynote.
On the whole, attendees I spoke to welcomed the new AI features but most of them were reserving judgement on their use, especially in commercial production. They will happily use AI for concepts and ‘ideation’, but many are also wary of development of their favourite tools being eclipsed by a perceived focus by Adobe on AI for non-creatives, and the eventual impact of this on the need for their skills. It’s also worth noting that currently Adobe is making huge strides in the marketing and enterprise worlds, where the use of AI to automate and drastically reduce the time taken for campaigns is being enthusiastically welcomed. Many of those marketing customers are the clients of these designers.
But designers like these, the core audience for Creative Cloud, are no fools; they’re worth listening to. Adobe would be wise to get them fully on board on its AI journey before it goes much further.
