Adobe to Launch Generative AI Video Creation Tool Later this Year

Adobe logo is seen on smartphone in this illustration taken June 13, 2022. (Reuters)
Adobe logo is seen on smartphone in this illustration taken June 13, 2022. (Reuters)
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Adobe to Launch Generative AI Video Creation Tool Later this Year

Adobe logo is seen on smartphone in this illustration taken June 13, 2022. (Reuters)
Adobe logo is seen on smartphone in this illustration taken June 13, 2022. (Reuters)

Adobe will unveil a new generative AI-powered video creation and editing tool in a limited release later this year, the software maker said on Wednesday, as it looks to beef up its suite of applications catering to creative professionals.

Dubbed Adobe Firefly Video Model, the artificial intelligence tool will be released in beta and will join the Photoshop maker's existing line of Firefly image-generating applications that allow users to produce still images, designs and vector graphics.

The model will establish Adobe in the growing market for AI-based video generation tools, a space already targeted by OpenAI's Sora, Stability AI's Stable Video Diffusion and other AI video apps from smaller startups, Reuters reported.

The tool can generate a five-second clip for a single prompt and can interpret both text and image prompts, said Alexandru Costin, vice president of generative AI at Adobe. Users can also specify the required camera angle, panning, motion and zoom.

"We've invested in making this model reach the level of quality and prompt understanding that videographers expect. We've invested in making sure we really pay attention to the prompt ... respecting guidance from videographers much better than other (AI video) models," Costin told Reuters in an interview.

Adobe said the video model is trained on public domain or licensed content that it has permission to use, and not on any Adobe customer content.

"We only train them on the Adobe Stock database of content that contains 400 million images, illustrations, and videos that are curated to not contain intellectual property, trademarks or recognizable characters," Costin said.

Adobe is also rolling out Generative Extend, a tool that will be available in its Premiere Pro video editing software, which can extend any existing clip by two seconds by generating an appropriate insert to fill gaps in the footage.

First previewed in April, the tool has seen "a huge positive reaction from all of our customers", Costin said.



Australia Plans Social Media Minimum Age Limit, Angering Youth Digital Advocates 

Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram apps are seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters)
Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram apps are seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters)
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Australia Plans Social Media Minimum Age Limit, Angering Youth Digital Advocates 

Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram apps are seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters)
Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram apps are seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. (Reuters)

Australia plans to set a minimum age limit for children to use social media citing concerns about mental and physical health, sparking a backlash from digital rights advocates who warn the measure could drive dangerous online activity underground.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his center-left government would run an age verification trial before introducing age minimum laws for social media this year.

Albanese didn't specify an age but said it would likely be between 14 and 16.

"I want to see kids off their devices and onto the footy fields and the swimming pools and the tennis courts," Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"We want them to have real experiences with real people because we know that social media is causing social harm," he added.

The law would put Australia among the first countries in the world to impose an age restriction on social media. Previous attempts, including by the European Union, have failed following complaints about reducing the online rights of minors.

Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, which has a self-imposed minimum age of 13, said it wanted to empower young people to benefit from its platforms and equip parents with the tools to support them "instead of just cutting off access".

YouTube owner Alphabet did not respond to a request for comment and TikTok were not immediately available for comment.

Australia has one of the world's most online populations with four-fifths of its 26 million people on social media, according to tech industry figures. Three quarters of Australians aged 12 to 17 had used YouTube or Instagram, a 2023 University of Sydney study found.

Albanese announced the age restriction plan against the backdrop of a parliamentary inquiry into social media's effects on society, which has heard sometimes emotional testimony of poor mental health impacts on teenagers.

But the inquiry has also heard concerns about whether a lower age limit could be enforced and, if it is, whether it would inadvertently harm younger people by encouraging them to hide their online activity.

"This knee-jerk move ... threatens to create serious harm by excluding young people from meaningful, healthy participation in the digital world, potentially driving them to lower quality online spaces," said Daniel Angus, director of the Queensland University of Technology Digital Media Research Center.

Australia's own internet regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, warned in a June submission to the inquiry that "restriction-based approaches may limit young people's access to critical support" and push them to "less regulated non-mainstream services".

The commissioner said in a statement on Tuesday it would "continue working with stakeholders across government and the community to further refine Australia's approach to online harms" which can "threaten safety across a range of platforms at any age, both before and after the mid-teen years".