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Creators use AI at several practical points in a project: to brainstorm, generate or refine assets, edit and enhance content, and handle video post-production. The task matters more than the label “AI”: a tool may help produce a first draft or speed up a repetitive step, while the creator still chooses what fits, checks the result, and makes the final creative decisions.
What creator surveys say about AI use
Adobe’s published surveys suggest that creative AI is established among the particular creator groups they asked, but their findings are not a census of everyone who makes things. Adobe and The Harris Poll surveyed more than 16,000 emerging and professional social-first creators across the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, South Korea, Japan, India, and Australia in May 2026. Adobe defined creators as people who publish digital content several times a month to inform, entertain, or engage an audience and generate income across digital platforms.
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Among respondents who use or had tried creative AI, 75% described it as integrated or essential to their work. In the same survey, 87% said creative AI had accelerated their business or follower-base growth. Those are respondents’ own assessments, not evidence that AI caused growth. Adobe’s 2026 survey release reports the results.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchIn a separate September 2025 survey by Adobe and The Harris Poll, more than 16,000 creators in the same eight countries were asked about generative AI use. Adobe reported that 86% actively used creative generative AI, and 60% had used more than one such tool in the previous three months. These figures describe that survey’s respondents and time period, not a universal adoption rate. See Adobe’s 2025 Creators’ Toolkit Report and official report PDF.
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Where AI fits in an everyday creative workflow
Adobe’s 2025 survey asked creators about their uses of creative generative AI. The three most frequently reported uses were editing, upscaling, or enhancing content; generating new assets; and brainstorming or ideation. The categories can overlap: one project may move from an AI-assisted idea to generated material and then into editing.
| Project step | Reported use | What the creator still needs to decide |
|---|---|---|
| Brainstorming and ideation | 48% reported using creative generative AI for brainstorming or ideation in Adobe’s September 2025 survey. | Which ideas suit the brief, audience, and creator’s point of view; what to develop or discard. |
| Generating assets | 52% reported using it to generate new assets, such as images and video, in the same survey. | Whether an output is appropriate, coherent with the project, and usable in its intended context. |
| Editing and enhancement | 55% reported editing, upscaling, or enhancing content in the same survey. | Whether the changes improve the work without undermining its intended look, meaning, or quality. |
The percentages are Adobe survey responses, not measured shares of all creative work or evidence that any particular tool performs well. Adobe’s 2025 report also quotes its vice president and head of product marketing for creators, Mike Polner: “Creators today aren’t passively using creative generative AI, they’re intentionally curating the tools they trust,”
Start with the task, not the tool
For a new project, use ideation assistance when the bottleneck is exploring possibilities; consider generation when you need a draft asset; and look at editing or enhancement when you already have material to improve. Before choosing a tool, consider whether its output is editable enough for your workflow, whether the quality is acceptable after review, what its price or usage limits are, and whether you need to work on mobile, desktop, or both. The surveys identify common tasks and concerns; they do not rank products or establish a best tool for every creator.
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AI in video projects: often a post-production aid
A narrower Adobe Express survey offers a view of video workflows. Adobe Express surveyed 384 US video creators through Prolific from December 1–5, 2025; 86% of respondents were solo creators. In that sample, 71% said they had used AI video-generation or editing tools. Among those AI video users, 41% said they used them weekly.
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Editing was the most commonly reported video use: 58% said they used AI for editing. Transitions and effects followed at 42%; thumbnail creation and music selection were each reported by 37%. These results apply to the surveyed US video creators, not to all creators or video makers worldwide. Adobe Express published the figures in its 2026 article on creator use of AI video tools.
For a video maker, that pattern points to practical post-production tasks as well as generation. A sensible workflow is to use assistance where it saves effort, then review timing, transitions, music, and thumbnails against the video’s purpose and style. The survey reports what people said they use; it does not test how much time a tool saves or whether a finished video performs better.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Mobile is part of the workflow, but the 2025 figures are not a 2026 forecast
In Adobe’s September 2025 creator survey, 72% said they frequently created content on mobile. Separately, 75% expected to create more on mobile over the following year. That second figure records expectations expressed in 2025; it does not establish what creators actually did in 2026. The results show why mobile compatibility can be a practical selection criterion, but they do not imply that new hardware is necessary.
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AI can assist with stages of a project without taking over its direction. In Adobe’s May 2026 survey, 85% of respondents said the final creative decision should remain theirs. Adobe’s release also frames voice, taste, and judgment as qualities that distinguish creators. This is a reported preference and Adobe’s characterization, not an independent test of creative quality.
Creators also reported concerns in Adobe’s September 2025 survey: 69% were concerned their content might be used to train AI without permission, 38% cited cost, 34% unreliable output quality, and 28% uncertainty about training data. These are reported attitudes, not legal findings about a particular work, model, or service. The survey does not settle whether a specific use is authorized or how a particular provider uses data.
Adobe’s June 2026 article, “How Creatives Are Thinking About AI”, describes a separate study of nearly 2,000 creative professionals and other creatives in the US, UK, and Japan, with fieldwork by The Directions Group. That broader population should not be conflated with Adobe’s social-first creator surveys; it is useful context for understanding why creator enthusiasm and reservations can coexist.
Quick Recap
A practical way to keep your own style in the process
- Define the creative goal. Decide what the piece needs to communicate and what should make it recognizably yours before asking a tool to generate or revise anything.
- Assign AI a bounded task. Use it for idea exploration, a draft asset, a specific edit, or a post-production step rather than treating “use AI” as the goal.
- Review the output against the brief. Check whether it is accurate for the project, suitable for its audience, and consistent with the intended tone and visual style.
- Make the final call yourself. Keep, change, or reject the result based on your own standards. If the output is hard to edit or does not meet the brief, it may not be useful even if it was quick to generate.
- Check the tool’s terms and limits. Cost, usage limits, data handling, and the quality of editable outputs can all affect whether a tool belongs in a recurring workflow. The survey findings do not answer those product-specific questions.
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