New research from Adobe has found that the use of AI technology among Australian consumers, particularly agentic AI, is experiencing significant growth.
Currently, 18 per cent of Australians are using agentic AI in their daily lives, up 6 per cent from March. What’s more, the proportion of Australians planning to use agentic AI in the next year has increased from 31 per cent to 42 per cent since March.
The survey of more than 1,000 Australians also found that a third of Aussies regularly use AI assistants, up 7 per cent since March. While the tools had previously been used for tasks like summarising documents, Adobe reckons the fastest growing use cases are replacing traditional search and seeking guidance on where to shop and what to buy. It noted usage was climbing quickly across all generations, but regular AI use has grown the most among Millennials, jumping from 29 per cent in March to 41 per cent in June.
Katrina Troughton, Adobe’s Australia and New Zealand VP and MD, said, “We’ve seen a dramatic shift in just three months. Not only are more Australians adopting AI, but they are embracing new capabilities.”
“The surge in agentic AI adoption indicates that it’s no longer just about getting smart answers; people want AI that can act and make decisions. It signals yet another shift in behaviour and expectations among consumers that are translating into new AI-assisted pathways to discover and engage with brands.”
Adobe, it’s worth noting, has been investing in the space for some time. It launched its Firefly text-to-image generation model two years ago and has more recently introduced Brand Concierge, a new tool to enable businesses to create and manage AI agents that guide consumers from exploration to confident purchase decisions.
Its AI Assistant in Acrobat will soon enable people to create custom agents that can be assigned specific roles — like research assistants or academic tutors — ready to help analyse documents, answer questions and use reasoning to suggest further areas to explore. Adobe also introduced its first creative agent in Adobe Photoshop with the all-new Actions panel (currently in beta), which analyses images and recommends smart, context-aware edits.
Agentic AI, very much a buzzword in the world of marketing, is also starting to make its way into the minds of consumers, according to Adobe. It found millennials were setting the pace for agentic AI adoption, with nearly a quarter already using the tech, up from just 13 per cent in March. The generation is also the most trusting of the emerging technology.
For Aussies not familiar with agentic AI, Adobe said that once the concept is explained, most want it to help them research and purchase consumer items, as well as boost their creativity. The most appealing use cases included comparing products (63 per cent), finding deals and completing approved purchases (57 per cent), and suggesting creative ideas tailored to their style (55 per cent).
Adobe revealed the findings of its research at an intimate event for press and analysts in a very wind- and rain-swept Sydney last night.
“At first, it felt like AI adoption was a ripple effect, but now it’s truly a wave,” said Jeremy Wood, Adobe’s head of solution GTM strategy in APAC and Japan.
“It’s very clear there’s a strong appetite in AI when it comes to minor decision making. But AI isn’t just about necessarily reshaping our shopping behaviours, it’s having a bigger impact on the way we work… Regardless of what you’re using AI for, it’s being put to work to raise the bar on what people can produce. As people become accustomed to these seamless experiences embedded in their daily lives, they’re signalling a willingness for the next wave of agentic applications that don’t just respond to queries but actually get things on the user’s behalf, not just answers but outcomes.”
While the benefits of AI adoption for businesses – improved productivity and elimination of repetitive tasks, chief among the regular contenders – are widely discussed, Adam Ferrier, co-founder of Thinkerbell, asked during a panel discussion at the event whether we were thinking broadly enough as a society about AI. He explained that he is using AI for parenting tips, his son is using it for feedback on school essays, and the Thinkerbell creative department is using it for a litany of tasks.
“It’s a better teacher than many teachers, a better parent than many parents and is a better creative than many creatives,” said Ferrier.
“I actually think we’re being hoodwinked a little bit, or we haven’t got our eye on the ball. We’re talking about behaviours and very superficial behavioural insights to try to understand this, whereas I think it’s much more existential… This is about freedom, this is about ‘me’, this is about understanding my place in the world now that AI is a better parent than I am, AI is a better creative than I am, what’s my role?”
It’s something that Ferrier has seen within Thinkerbell. He explained to the assembled reporters and analysts that when the tools were presented to the agency’s staff as efficiency and problem-solving tools, the staff were unenthused, but after repositioning them as a “creative tool, an enhancement tool and an ideas generator”, the staff were much more interested.
“I think people are more motivated to do something extraordinary than they are to stop doing something dull. That for us was a line in the sand,” he said.
Fellow panelist, Cherie Diaz, Western Sydney University’s executive director of education innovation, concurred but added that perhaps the personalities within agencies made them more motivated by a desire to create rather than not be bored.
“The risk is that it dehumanises all of us,” added Ferrier, noting that fears around personal efficiency at work were already present within the ad industry, but that the AI producing companies, including Adobe, have the opportunity to ensure that AI doesn’t, in fact, dehumanise us.
Whatever happens in the future with AI, it’s safe to say that we are firmly thought the looking glass now and that nothing will be the same in any walk of life.
