AI was a key trend for 2025, but some of Adobe’s predictions for 2026 seem to focus on the one thing AI cannot do. I think this is the key to standing out as a creative in an AI world

Two people with hair blowing in the wing enjoying a moment under a blue sky.

As 2025 is coming to a close, software giant Adobe is making predictions for the biggest creative trends in 2026. As a photographer and tech journalist, I was expecting to find trends heavily influenced by AI, instead, it feels like half the predictions are anti-AI.

Adobe recently published its annual predictions for creative trends. Two of the four trends feel like an evolution of the brand’s 2025 trend report. Visuals that Engage the Senses feels a bit like a visual-focused take on the immersive art installations that Adobe highlighted in last year’s report. Similarly, the surrealism trend that Adobe called Fantastic Frontiers last year feels revamped in the 2026 trend Surreal Stillness. The Surrealism trend discusses using AI to create images that defy the laws of physics.