Adobe previews AI “sneaks” that reshape video, lighting, and voice

Adobe used its Max conference to preview experimental AI tools, called “sneaks,” that aim to make photo, video, and audio editing faster and easier. Project Frame Forward drew the most attention by letting editors change one frame and have that change ripple through an entire clip. In the demo, the tool selected a woman in the first frame and removed her without manual masking, then filled in a realistic background; the removal applied across the whole video in a few clicks. Editors can also sketch where they want to add something, describe it in a short prompt, and see that object appear throughout the footage.

Inserted items can even respond to the scene, such as a generated puddle that mirrors the motion of a cat already in the shot. Project Light Touch targets lighting in photos. It can shift the direction of light, brighten rooms as if lamps were on, and let users set softer or sharper shadows. Dynamic lights can be dragged around the canvas and bend around people or objects in real time, turning a scene from day into night or lighting a pumpkin from within. The color of these lights is adjustable to change warmth or create vivid RGB-style effects.

Project Clean Take focuses on audio. With a brief prompt, it can change how words are delivered, happier or more inquisitive, swap words while keeping the speaker’s voice identity, and split background noise into separate sources so specific sounds can be lowered or muted while voice remains clear. Adobe also showed Project Surface Swap to change the material or texture of objects and surfaces, Project Turn Style to rotate and edit objects like a 3D image, and Project New Depths to edit photos as if they were a 3D space so added items can tuck behind foreground elements.

These previews are not public tools and may never ship, but Adobe notes that several features, including Photoshop’s Distraction Removal and Harmonize, began as sneaks, suggesting some of these ideas could reach Creative Cloud or Firefly.