“We’re not there yet”: Adobe’s AI leader Hannah Elsakr on Artificial General Intelligence

Adobe Firefly is a suite of generative AI models and tools, including a web app, designed to help creatives generate images, videos, and other content from text prompts,

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) isn't arriving anytime soon—at least not according to Hannah Elsakr, Global Head of New Business Ventures and Founder of Firefly for Enterprise at Adobe.

"AI is not new—I have studied AI for 30 years," she said, while speaking on the sidelines of the Adobe Summit in Las Vegas. "There are progressions happening, for sure, but I don’t think we’re there right away for AGI."

Elsakr is the founder for Firefly for Enterprise -- Adobe's generative AI platform designed for businesses, offering features like custom models, APIs, and IP indemnity and so on.

While AGI remains a distant goal, Adobe’s generative AI tool Firefly has seen rapid adoption in the enterprise space. Launched last year, Elsakr said that Firefly has already secured over 50 enterprise customers, driven by its commercial safety features and reliability.

"Most enterprises are identifying use cases that generate returns," she noted, highlighting how Firefly helped Adobe streamline Black Friday marketing efforts, reducing costs and turnaround time by over 50 percent.

Despite AI's growing role in creative workflows, concerns remain about its impact on jobs. Elsakr dismissed the notion of AI replacing humans outright, instead emphasizing its role as a productivity enhancer.

"Humans won’t be replaced by AI. They’ll be replaced by humans who know how to use AI," she said, citing historical parallels like the introduction of Excel in finance.

Firefly’s adoption has been particularly strong in content localisation and social media marketing, where it enables businesses to rapidly generate and adapt creative assets.

She said that Adobe has also been actively engaging artists through its stock business model, ensuring contributors are compensated for training data.

Looking ahead, Elsakr believes that AI will continue to augment human creativity rather than replace it. "Creative professionals are adding AI into their workflows—it’s their workflow. They’re still the human creator at the center," she said.

Elsakr's views on the matter are in line with other experts in the sector. Infosys chairman and co-founder Nandan Nilekani said that no matter how advanced artificial intelligence becomes, it will never replace human skills like empathy, leadership, collaboration, and creativity.

Disclaimer: The author was in Las Vegas at the invitation of Adobe