Shantanu Narayen on metaverse
From Adobe CEO on Market Selloff, Metaverse Plans · · Bloomberg Technology
“The way I like to describe the metaverse Emily is that increasingly and this is certainly accelerated through the pandemic things that people did in the physical world increasingly they're going to do in the virtual world and I think that trend just continues.”
On , Shantanu Narayen, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Adobe Inc., spoke about metaverse during Adobe CEO on Market Selloff, Metaverse Plans on Bloomberg Technology.
About Shantanu Narayen
At Adobe Summit 2026, Shantanu Narayen described the current period as "a true inflection point" where creativity and marketing are being reshaped by AI. He stated that Adobe's mission "empowering everyone to create" is "more relevant than ever" and that the company believes "tools don't create, people do." Narayen argued that "the bears have it all wrong" regarding concerns about AI's impact on software, saying he is "more confident about the company's future" and that there will be "more opportunity for creative companies than ever before." He announced Adobe's proposed acquisition of SEMrush, saying the companies bring "complementary capabilities across traditional search and everything we're talking about here around emerging AI discovery." Narayen also discussed Adobe's approach to AI training data, stating that Firefly is "the only model that has been created that is completely and 100% trained on data that we have licensed for." He said that "creative control is more important than ever before" and that "brand consistency, IP protection, connected asset management" have moved from "best practices to absolutely business critical requirements." Regarding his announced plans to step down as CEO, Narayen said he wants to "go back to my first love, which is building products and focusing on customers."