Windows 11 Photos is getting Adobe's generative AI tools in December

Adobe and Microsoft are expanding their partnership to bring new AI-powered editing capabilities to Windows 11 and also improve Creative Cloud performance on Arm-based PCs at the same time. The companies announced the collaboration at Adobe Max 2026, with some features already available and others coming in the coming months.

One of the more interesting developments is integrating Adobe's generative AI tools into the native Windows 11 Photos app. Users will be able to expand images beyond their original borders, rotate photographs without losing portions of the image, and remove unwanted objects while automatically filling the resulting gaps.

The integration will also support text-based editing. Users can select an object or area and describe the changes they want to make. Additionally, Adobe Express will be accessible directly from the Photos viewer, allowing users to turn their pictures into invitations, social media posts and other designs using ready-made templates.

These features will initially be available to Windows Insiders starting in December 2026. Neither company has specified a wider release date or clarified whether certain AI features will require a paid subscription.

On the professional side, Adobe has optimised Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects and Substance 3D Painter (beta) for high-performance Windows on Arm devices, including Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Ultra powered by Nvidia RTX Spark.

Photoshop benefits from faster on-device generative AI processing, while Premiere promises improved playback, rendering and colour correction. AI-powered features such as Enhance Speech and Object Mask should also see performance improvements. Meanwhile, Substance 3D Painter gets optimisations for demanding tasks such as mesh-map baking and working with large textures.

However, Adobe's support documentation confirms that some features and third-party plugins remain incompatible with Windows on Arm. The latest optimisations should improve the experience, but they don't completely eliminate the platform's existing limitations.