Much of the news and product updates Adobe dropped this week was, unsurprisingly, centered around generative AI. But while most of this year has seen massive leaps in image and video generation, Adobe is focusing on elevating its AI offerings in another area: AI audio.
The two new features, generate soundtrack and generate speech, do exactly what their names suggest. You can create background music and record scripts for your video. But each comes with hands-on controls that make AI audio less of a gamble and more of a useful tool for creators of all skill levels. They're available in beta now.
Adobe is also releasing a beta version of its latest, fifth-gen Firefly Image Model. It promises to be better at producing photorealistic images, and you can now use prompt-based editing. There's also a new beta Firefly video editor that comes with a multitrack timeline that's meant to help you compile AI-generated clips. Adobe is also expanding its partnerships with two new AI companies, ElevenLabs and Topaz Labs. For even more AI news, you can learn about the AI assistants coming to Photoshop and Express.
Here's an example of how you're prompted to write your AI music description. Adobe
Generate music and soundtracks
Music licensing is complicated, especially for commercial use. So let me start with the part that matters most: Any music generated with Firefly's generate soundtrack is given a universal license, which means you can use it for any purpose, indefinitely. Adobe creates its AI tools by using content (in this case, audio) that it has permission to use for AI training. So in theory, you shouldn't have Firefly AI audio removed from YouTube or other platforms or get a dreaded copyright strike.
"This is a unique time in the world where music licensing is on the top of everybody's mind and creators are just either frustrated because they're trying to do the best thing for their content, or they're confused," Jay LeBoeuf, Adobe's head of AI audio, said in an interview. "So we're just hoping to remove the confusion."
In a demo, Firefly did reject a prompt with an artist's name in it as it violated its user guidelines due to copyright concerns. Because the model isn't trained on Taylor Swift's music, for example, it can't create music similar to hers.
Now, the fun stuff: Generate soundtrack is the first AI music tool from Adobe, and it's designed to take the guesswork out of what you want. You upload your video, and the AI analyzes it. Based on its assessment, Firefly will write a prompt it thinks may work well for your video. It's a Mad Libs-style prompt, and you can swap out the descriptors as you see fit. The prompt has three parts: describing the general vibe, style (think genre) and purpose (commercial, experimental, etc.). You can also adjust the tempo and energy level.
Once you're happy with your prompt, click generate and less than two minutes later, four instrumental-only variations will be ready for you to play. Your audio will be as long as your video, but you can edit that as needed. You can upload videos that are up to five minutes long.
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