Adobe Publishes APAC AI Trends Report Spotlighting India Innovation
Adobe’s AI adoption report spotlights many data-driven insights, including the fact that rather than simply trying out AI tools, surveyed Indian creatives and professionals reported that they’re embracing AI with confidence, with an overwhelming positive outlook on AI technologies when compared to their other APAC counterparts
From workplace automation strategies to producing creative assets, AI has undoubtedly become a fixture of daily life for billions of industry users worldwide. AI adoption trends also aren’t isolated to just some industries over others – virtually all markets are finding their own unique ways of harnessing the power of AI to boost their productivity and output.
What is surprising, however, is that some national economies are adopting AI at a more accelerated rate than others, according to market analysts and global reporting. In certain national markets, AI tools have become indispensable, with industry professionals not only integrating tools into their workflows, but also going so far as to innovate with those tools, finding new applications across some of the world’s most widely used AI models.
And in other markets, AI usage is still largely experimental and within limited or controlled settings – a toe dipped into a digital pool of uncertainty. So where does India stand in the global race for AI readiness? The answer might surprise you.
A new Adobe study comparing APAC powers (India, Australia, and South Korea) suggests India is moving through our AI adoption journey at a significantly accelerated rate when compared to other Asian and Pacific markets. Adobe’s AI adoption report spotlights many data-driven insights, including the fact that rather than simply trying out AI tools, surveyed Indian creatives and professionals reported that they’re embracing AI with confidence, with an overwhelming positive outlook on AI technologies when compared to their other APAC counterparts.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the report findings.
India’s AI Adoption Moving at a Rapid Fire Rate
One of the clearest messages from Adobe’s report is that India isn’t a passive player in the AI boom. Instead, Indian industries are building real momentum with AI innovation – even across the creative sector.
When asked to describe themselves as either "Innovators" or "Early Adopters", 63% of creative professionals in India (between the ages of 18 and 44) said they identified as the former. By comparison, Australian and South Korean participants were more likely to describe themselves as Early Adopters, sitting at 42% and 43% respectively.
This distinction carries weight because innovators are generally the people who enjoy testing new technology first, figuring out what works, and discovering creative ways to apply it for other fellow users.
Indian Creatives are Experimenting with Multiple Tools
How are you using AI? You may often find yourself using a text to image tool for creative production plus a search chatbot for research sporadically during the day. That would mean you average using 2 different AI tools regularly.
Before long, however, AI innovators end up adding more specialised AI tools to their armory, mainly after trialling enough tools to recognise which AI models exceed at which outputs. For this reason, AI innovators are more likely to be using more tools on average than early adopters. The data spells this out quite clearly: over the last year, the average Indian respondent made use of an average of 4.4 AI tools, compared to 2.4 in Australia and 2.2 in South Korea.
This shows that instead of using one all-in-one solution, Indian creatives are picking and choosing the best tools suited for all the outputs they’re looking to generate and/or refine. One AI tool might help with brainstorming, another with research, another with coding, and another with image generation or editing.
In finding the right tools for the right jobs, AI innovators are better positioned to sustainably integrate AI into their daily workflows, ensuring AI usage delivers highly controlled results that maintain a consistent quality – and this in turn, being driven by their stronger understanding of each of the tools they’re using daily.
Creatives in India Report a Positive Outlook on AI
Alongside demonstrating broader tool experimentation when compared to other APAC markets, Indian professionals surveyed also reported higher trust and confidence with AI technologies. Adobe’s study reports that 79% of Indian respondents stated they trusted AI tools to ‘deliver accurate and reliable results’.
Alongside this, Indian creatives also maintained strong belief in the practical values of AI tools, with:
● 94% of Indian respondents agreeing that AI adoption saves time and provides a high level of convenience,
● 92% of Indian respondents agreeing that AI can improve their decision-making through personalised recommendations, and
● 89% of Indian respondents stating that they are willing to use AI systems in their own decision-making because they view tool outputs as reliable and accurate.
The report also outlined sentiments from Indian professionals that AI tools aren’t a substitute for creative processes, but are in fact an asset to those processes, and are making creative tasks more accessible to professionals from all backgrounds, including entrepreneurs and business owners.
Confidence Helps Turn Experimentation Into Everyday Work
It’s one thing to give AI a try. To make it an integral part of your day-to-day operations is something else altogether.
Adobe’s research has turned up some telling data when it comes to the confidence many Indian professionals have developed around AI. Indian professionals aren't treating it as something novel. On the contrary, they genuinely trust and rely on it to expedite their work and underpin their decision-making.
In creative fields where heavy workloads and tight deadlines are an ever growing norm, that confidence matters. When professionals have enough faith in the tech they’re using to rely on it day in and day out, they’re far more likely to build efficient workflows around it instead of constantly second-guessing every output.
It doesn’t replace sound human judgement, of course, but it does make AI a much more practical partner in the workplace.
Building Skills Instead of Waiting Around
One interesting pattern from the research is that most Indian professionals aren’t taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to learning about and using AI. They prefer to learn by doing.
They’re experimenting with prompts, testing different tools, comparing outputs, and gradually working out what delivers the best results. This sort of hands-on approach is generally more effective than depending on theory alone. And because of how fast tech evolves, curiosity has become one of the most valuable workplace skills – especially in the age of AI.
Professionals and enterprises who regularly explore new features will naturally find it much easier to adjust when the next wave of AI tools comes along. It’s also a helpful reminder that AI literacy isn’t about memorising software. It’s about developing confidence to experiment, learn, and keep improving over time.
Why Wider Adoption Matters for Creative Industries
Most creatives are well acquainted with the feeling of bouncing between ideas, client feedback, last-minute edits, and staying up to stupid-o-clock to meet tight deadlines. It's all part of the job.
AI isn’t going to do away with those demands entirely, but what it can do is save precious hours that would otherwise be lost to repetition. That means more time to focus on the creative decisions that actually need a human touch. For creatives, this could mean churning out a first draft in less time or having the luxury to explore more concepts before committing to a final direction.
The data indicates a good number of Indian creatives are already working this way. Rather than viewing AI as a replacement for creativity, they’re treating it as another tool that supports the creative process.
What the Findings Could Mean for the APAC Region
Australia, South Korea and India are all getting on board with generative AI, but they're not necessarily taking the same path to get there.
India’s stronger culture of experimentation suggests its creative workforce may continue discovering new applications at an accelerated pace. In Australia and South Korea there is a steadier approach, with a focus on vetting a tool before it becomes part of the daily grind.
Neither approach is better than the other. Being quick to experiment can spark new ideas and uncover clever ways to work, while taking things a bit slower gives businesses more time to understand the technology and put the right processes in place. As AI keeps evolving, there's a good chance all three markets will borrow ideas from one another and settle somewhere in the middle.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Adobe’s findings suggest India is embracing AI with plenty of confidence and a genuine willingness to learn. While every market is moving at its own pace, it’s clear that AI is becoming a practical part of everyday creative work rather than just something new to try.
One thing is pretty clear though. AI has moved well beyond being a novelty. For plenty of creatives, it's simply another tool they can reach for when it helps, then put aside when it doesn't. It'll be interesting to see how that changes over the next few years as the technology keeps improving.
[Sana Ahmed is Staff Writer at ummid.com.]
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