Adobe Concept First Thoughts - AIxC: 71
+ The AIxC R&D Lab & Deepseek
As is par for the course, lots of Ai happenings since we last talked: Adobe Concept, Deepseek and our AIxC R&D Lab for paid members.
We also had a lot of new subscribers since last week.
Glad to have you’re here!
Hector & the AIxC Team
01 / TOOLS
Adobe Concept First Peek
Last year I met Ross McKegney over on Linkedin.
He heads up Concept, Adobe’s upcoming gen ai tool for creatives.
I was recently given access to Concept and while I can’t show much yet, as expected, the tool delivers in many ways. It is built for folks like us - professional creatives. I expect to spend a lot of time with it.
Some details that immediately rise to the top for me:
Ability to communicate with the tool in many different types of inputs, ie image, texts, ingredients.
Content Credentials, which tell you which images are Ai and which aren’t. Really helpful.
Direct Integration into Photoshop, keeping my eye on that as it develops.
And of course, the IT and legal hurdles that Adobe will lower for our industry.
I can’t predict the future, but if I had to pull out my crystal ball, I clearly see a future where this tool is a fixture in our creative toolkits.
I’ll be putting a fair amount of time into this tool to better understand how it will integrate into our workflows and will share here when I can.
In the meantime, you can join the waitlist here if interested.
02 / NEWS
How Did This Whale Lead to a $600B Loss?
So what’s up with the whale and why did it lead to the largest one-day loss in US history? For what it’s worth, Nvidia shed $600B (yes a B) in market cap.
Well, a Chinese hedge fund released Deepseek, a foundational model looking to compete with the established players in the industry, ie OpenAi, Google, Anthropic, etc.
They reportedly made it for a fraction of the cost. They effectively made it open-source and really affordable to run for the end user.
$200/mo for OpenAI Operator all of a sudden becomes a tough pill to swallow.
Like with many things online, it’s hard to know what’s true and what isn’t. How much did this model truly cost to train? How did they train it? What are they going to do with your data? Did the established players really get caught flat-footed? What does this all mean for Ai progress in the coming years?
I won’t post any links to articles as I don’t know enough to ensure I’m spreading accurate or false information. But what we will do is continue wading through the sea of info and talking to professionals to better understand what this all means for us in the creative fields. More to come.
03 / WORKFLOWS
Fine Details with Ai Tools
A lot of folks, including myself, post about our Ai wins. But there are a lot fails as well.
One of the consistent shortcomings? Fine details with repeating patterns.
It assembles pixels that represent a pattern, but look closely enough and you'll see the inconsistencies - varying widths, missing sections, off center, etc. Sometimes it's glaringly obvious, other times more subtle, but mostly always not accurate.
I posted this over on Linkedin as well and one of the comments mentioned that sketching also is full of varying widths, missing sections and off center details.
It brings up the notion that we tend to hold Ai tools to a high standard. We expect perfection. Some folks discard these tools because they don’t meet these expectations.
My take? All these tools continue improving. They’ll continue getting closer and closer to what we have in mind. On the way there, it’s important to define the needs for each stage of our processes. Coupled with understanding the pros and cons of each tool, you can start choosing where these tools and their features slot into your approach today and get a glimpse of where they mat fit in the near future.
04 / TOOLS & WORKFLOWS
The AIxC R&D Lab
A significant portion of our time here is spent on the testing, evaluation and implementation of Ai tools for professional-grade creative requirements.
Starting today we’re sharing a consistent sampling of our efforts with our paid members. We have created the AIxC R&D Lab Miro board which you’ll have access to as long as you’re a subscriber here.
This Miro board starts being populated today and will grow over time.
As we go along, you will find efforts such as:
Prompt tests
Workflow documentation
Tool comparisons
Thoughts and strategies
And lots more
Our goal is to make this as close to a living and breathing board. Think of it like an extension of our team here.
To start, it will be sparse, but rest assured that we will continue to build on this weekly. As of now, you’ll find a character and apparel prompt test, comparing Midjourney, Krea and Visual Electric, along with some other assets.
So give it a shot for a month, a quarter or a year. Whatever works for you.
Sign up below for access to the full paid newsletter and the AIxC R&D Lab board. Link and password behind the paywall.