Adobe MAX 2026 Opening Keynote

Build a Story was brand new, so the audience had no reference point for it. I had just a few minutes on stage to show what it does, why it matters, and make it feel like something a real creator would actually use. It was also live, so the demo had to work the first time with no do-overs.

I wanted people to see themselves in the demo, so I put myself in it. I made a character of me, plus three surreal locations (a Lemon Courtyard, a Giant Flower Garden, and a Giant Sky) and a perfume bottle called Citrus Bloom. From there, Build a Story planned out twelve shots that kept me, the bottle, and each world looking the same from shot to shot. That’s the hardest part of making a story with AI, and it’s exactly what I’ve been doing by hand for 14 years.

After three months of rehearsals in San Francisco with my co-presenters and director Jason Levine, the demo landed live in Miami and streamed free to creators everywhere. In just a few minutes I went from a handful of elements to twelve matching shots, then cut them into a finished perfume spot with music right in the Firefly timeline. It’s also the start of a follow-up series where I show people how to use Build a Story in their own work.