𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬 𝗔𝗜 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗜'𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗿𝘆. 𝗜'𝗺 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴.

Motion designers have watched every other Adobe app receive meaningful AI upgrades over the last two years. Then they open After Effects.

Here's what currently in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere:

𝗣𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽 

· Generative Fill (AE has a older version) 

· Generative Expand 

· Generative Remove 

· Remove Background 

· AI Harmonise 

· Neural Filters 

· AI Denoise/AI Sharpen 

· Generative Upscale 

· Multi-model selector 

· Agentic AI assistant (beta)

𝗜𝗹𝗹𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 

· Text to Vector 

· Generative Recolor 

· Generative Expand 

· Retype 

· Mockup tool

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗲 

· Generative Extend 

· AI music edit

· AI Object Masking 

· Media Intelligence 

· Enhance Speech 

· Auto Reframe 

· Scene Edit Detection 

· Auto Colour Grade Correction

· Morph Cut 

· Firefly Boards integration

Almost every one of these has a direct motion or compositing potential and deserves to be part of the toolkit. And yet, almost none of them exist in After Effects.

Then there's Adobe's integration debt.

Substance 3D Suite (procedural materials, texturing, scene staging & rendering) exists—but behind a separate paywall, not a CC citizen. 

Mixamo (character auto-rigging and MoCap animation library) exists—but sits largely standalone. 

Adobe Character Animator exists—rarely paired with AE despite the obvious relationship. 

Project Neo (Adobe's new dimensional design tool) is live inside Firefly—but hasn't surfaced inside Photoshop or After Effects, where it logically belongs.

Adobe already owns everything it needs. It just hasn't joined it up.

The one thing still to ship is Project Graph—a node-based AI workflow tool that could redefine how motion pipelines are built. Watching that one closely.

So why isn't any of this in After Effects yet?

I think the honest answer is: foundation first.

After Effects is a big, complex tool and right now it's carrying a 3D problem it has never fully resolved. Three separate 3D engines exist inside it. They don't interoperate. None of them does everything. For serious 3D work, the UI simply wasn't built for it any 3D artist will tell you plainly.

You'll have seen the broader conversation: not AI first, but infrastructure first. Recent updates native primitives, shape extrusion, Substance materials, a coherent renderer look like Adobe doing essential housekeeping before adding AI superpowers. Fixing the pipeline before pointing Firefly at it. Right call. Frustrating to live through.

While we wait, the click-baiters and sensationalists are filling the feed—motion is dead, vibe coding is the future. Meanwhile Lottie's capabilities are quietly growing, and the gap between lightweight animation and full motion design is narrowing. Motion design isn't dying. It's waiting for the tools it deserves.

Adobe Max 2026. That's where I'm looking but if feels a long way off.