Tech can enhance creativity but can't replace human creative spark, says Matthew Gyves of Adobe

As technology blends into almost all possible activities, the question of creativity has always been dodged. Experts say both ought to go hand in hand. For tech giants entirely dependent on technology, creativity might seem secondary. So, would it be right to conclude that tech innovations will soon replace the human creative mind? A lot many of these tech enterprises, in their urge to innovate, have been using technology for developing creative tools that certainly can ease the human drudgery.

“There are a lot of things that a machine can do. AI and machine learning can enhance and remove common repetitive tasks. Truthfully, there's nothing that can replace human creative spark. We never intend to replace but to actually just enable creativity,” said Matthew Gyves, Director, Creative Cloud Video at Adobe.

He said Adobe’s products help spark the creative ideas of users. 

Gyves discussed how Adobe’s Creative Cloud and subscription model is working towards virtualised workflows. Explaining how broadcasters and advertisers can gain, he said Adobe is exploring opportunities to work with OTT platforms in India and help them monetise better.

Adobe has been making video editing tools for nearly 30 years now. With a long heritage in helping video production professionals, whether that's with Premiere Pro, After Effects, or Creative Cloud, the brand intends to be the number one in that market. Having invested heavily in engineering and product management, both in US and in India, Gyves said the company always puts customer needs and requirements into the product, and now all set to work closely with OTT players in India.

It has embedded AI technologies into the products to solve tasks for creative users. Built-in partnerships and on the basis of the requirements of podcasters, feature filmmakers, and advertising agencies, the software works on a subscription-based model.

But isn’t the subscription-based model restricting the number of users? Gyves said, “We were the first big software company to move to subscription.  We actually had a really good reaction both from individual customers and the large enterprises that are moving more towards an op ex model, rather than a cap ex model.”

Adobe's heritage is in professional creative tools. Designed for people making a living doing design work, whether it is stills or videos, Gyves said the software company has a diversified target group. From a hobbyist to freelance professional who buys the software usually on a credit card subscription, to literally just individuals, Adobe’s users include Disney, Viacom, Nike, Coca Cola.

But isn’t the software a bit complex in terms of the features, products and services for the individuals?

Gyves acknowledged that sometimes it does come with some complexity but said the software has a very large community of users who actually put themselves out developing content around the usage for free. He added, “However, the onus is on us to make products understandable. And as we migrate many of our products onto mobile devices, tablets, we spend time thinking about the experiences for the user and to break down those barriers of complexity.”

With this, the software has got a workflow and a platform that may start on a mobile phone but has the ability to grow into the application across devices.

“If you move up to a cloud environment, you put both the storage and the computer there and then enable users just to connect into those machines, creating a virtual machine in the cloud. With this, you get cost savings with greater flexibility options. Users can rent hardware in a cloud environment as needed. Users don’t have to move media to all of those different geographies because I can keep it in one cloud, a central environment, and just avail virtualised machines that people can connect into,” he added.

He explained how brands and advertisers can leverage the cloud, with all the tools to sell, build campaigns, drive analytics target, etc. It will give them the ability to create content, then also the ability to deliver those campaigns and do targeted marketing separately.

Apart from influencers using its product the Premiere Rush, it has helped creators to push content directly to social media channels in one go.

Saving all the users’ data in cloud to further make it accessible across geographies has to have a sound and secured privacy management and Adobe takes it seriously without hindering the privacy of users.  

“We leverage some of the best in market security from our partners such as AWS, or Microsoft. So, they have whole armies of people who work around data security. The Adobe Creative Cloud has some of the very highest-level certified data security within the industry. It's something that we continue to invest in because we want to make sure whether you're an individual or whether you're a large enterprise, your content is the safe,” said Gyves.

Talking about how important the market in India is for Adobe, he said the software company has invested a lot in terms of research and development. With a huge market in terms of consumption, to scale out a tailored message for products to the market is a bit challenging, for which it uses all social media channels among its community.

“Our strategy in India has always been customised to the specific group of people, whether it's a regional market, news broadcaster or entertainment broadcaster. We work on various strategies and communication style to cater to all these different segments. We use social media channels heavily to convey our message,” he said.

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