Disney Partners With Adobe On AI Tools That Turn Artists’ Sketches Into Finished Concept Art

Disney has lined up its next big AI partner, this time teaming with Adobe on a multi-year alliance to bring customized generative AI models into its creative pipelines across its businesses, including tools that will transform hand-drawn sketches into fully rendered concept art.

Under the terms of the agreement, Adobe will be Disney’s official “AI Innovation Partner” and will give the company access to Firefly, Firefly Foundry, Premiere, Photoshop, and dedicated engineering resources. Together, the companies will develop bespoke AI models trained on Disney IP to “generate commercially safe and production-ready outputs.”

According to the release, the work is already underway, with Walt Disney Imagineering using Firefly Foundry to generate 2D concept art from human-made drawings and create IP-based graphics for its parks development. Adobe will also work with Disney’s StudioLAB on experimental production workflows and ESPN Edge on AI-powered sports content.

The Adobe partnership is only the latest in a string of high-profile attempts by Disney to get ahead of the AI curve through corporate partnerships.

A year ago, Disney unveiled its most dramatic overhaul of Disney+ since the streamer’s launch, including a full-on embrace of generative AI tools for users. Then, in December, the company announced a $1 billion investment in OpenAI, a deal that collapsed when Sora was shut down and before any money changed hands.

More recently, Disney hired former Character.AI CEO Karandeep Anand as its first chief technology officer and committed roughly $180 million to recruiting employees from his former company, as it announced another major round of layoffs in a year largely defined by cuts across the company.

While the financial terms of the Adobe deal have not been made public, such a high-profile partnership once again shows where Disney’s priorities lie. Even as it eliminates thousands of jobs, demands further cost reductions, and commits billions to shareholder-benefiting stock buybacks, the company continues pouring resources into AI technologies that could fundamentally change how creative work is produced, and who gets paid to do it.