With AI becoming increasingly central to the creative process, the complex question for creators is this: How do we use these tools to explore new frontiers without sacrificing the inherent humanity and the core emotional connection in our work?

This year, Adobe and The Webby Awards deepened their partnership with a shared commitment to answering that question through creativity, experimentation, and community.

From continuing the Webby Special Achievement in Creative AI for its second year to powering standout experiences at the 2nd Annual Webby Creator Weekend, Adobe played a defining role in shaping some of the most forward-looking conversations and moments of the Webby season.

Honoring a New Era of AI-Native Creativity

This year, Adobe and The Webby Awards partnered to present the Webby Special Achievement in Creative AI, an honor recognizing individuals using generative technology in transformative, artistic, and deeply human ways.

Created in partnership with Adobe, the award celebrates creators who are expanding the possibilities of storytelling and artistic expression through innovative uses of AI while maintaining a distinct creative voice and authorship.

The 2026 recipient, James Gerde, represents a new generation of AI-native storytellers redefining how visual content is imagined, produced, and shared online.

A filmmaker turned generative creator, Gerde has built a signature style through the use of AI-powered creative tools, including Adobe Firefly, transforming ordinary footage into richly stylized and imaginative visual worlds designed for short-form, social-first storytelling. His work combines intricate material transformations, cinematic experimentation, and highly recognizable authorship, demonstrating how AI can become a true creative collaborator rather than a substitute for human vision.

Over the past year, Gerde’s work has rapidly evolved in both scale and sophistication, reaching audiences across platforms while showcasing how generative tools can accelerate creative growth and unlock new forms of storytelling for independent creators. Through his studio, Gerde Got It, he is building a creator-led model for AI-driven storytelling, proving that accessible creative technology can empower individuals to produce culturally resonant work at remarkable speed and scale.

Central to Gerde’s approach is a commitment to transparency and creative integrity. His work embraces AI as a tool that amplifies human imagination, not one that replaces it. That philosophy made him a fitting recipient for an award designed to spotlight the future of responsible, artist-driven creative AI.

Bringing Creative AI to Life at Webby Creator Weekend

Adobe’s presence extended far beyond the stage at the 2nd Annual Webby Creator Weekend, which brought together creators, influencers, and industry leaders to share how technology is transforming creative expression. Through interactive activations and programming, Adobe and Firefly helped transform the event into an immersive showcase of AI-powered creativity in action.

Across the weekend, Adobe hosted conversations exploring the future of AI-powered creativity and creator expression, including the session Create Without Limits: How AI Is Expanding Who Creates, featuring Brandom Baum, Valerie Zhang, and Pablo Rochat. Together, they explored how generative AI is opening new pathways for storytelling, experimentation, and making creative expression more accessible than ever.

Adobe also transformed those ideas into an interactive real-world experience through a Firefly-powered generative AI activation that quickly became one of the weekend’s most talked-about installations.

Attendees were invited to transform their portraits into personalized “love letters” to New York City using Adobe Firefly, remixing and experimenting with AI-generated visuals in real time. Guided by Adobe ambassadors at on-site editing stations, creators explored how intuitive AI-powered tools can turn spontaneous ideas into polished, shareable content designed for today’s Internet.

The activation became an immediate crowd favorite, with creators lining up throughout the weekend to generate visuals, test creative prompts, and share their creations across social platforms. More than just an installation, the experience reflected a larger shift happening across the Internet: AI is becoming increasingly collaborative, accessible, and creator-driven.

Together, Adobe and The Webby Awards are demonstrating what responsible, creator-led AI can look like: technology that expands creative possibility while keeping human imagination, experimentation, and authorship at the center