Adobe chief says companies must address the big issues in tech

Managing the explosion in data and technology is about privacy, transparency and the optics.

Shantanu Narayen, Adobe CEO. Picture: The Australian

Shantanu Narayen, 59, is the global CEO of Adobe Systems, who has worked at the software company for almost 25 years, 15 of them in the top job. The 40-year-old company, whose products include Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat Reader and digital marketing software for customer experience management, achieved revenue of $US17.61 billion in 2022 – a 12 per cent year-on-year growth. This is an edited interview.

ChatGPT and its implications are occupying the minds of a lot of people right now. How do you approach these issues as leader of a company that has technology that can be misused?

When we talk about the purpose of the company, we talk about creativity for all and the technology to transform. We recognise there is an awesome responsibility that companies like Adobe have to understand how their technologies are being used and to ensure they are being used for good. We think of fakes, data and AI as three separate issues. (To detect fakes) we created a content authenticity initiative, now in all of our applications, you can actually digitally sign a piece of content that you created. And the distributors of content, whether it’s The New York Times or Facebook have all signed up to say we will have some way of showing the provenance of that content and who it should be attributed to. We use artificial intelligence techniques to understand if content is altered and we continue to invest in technology that allows us to say which images were changed and which were not.

After a long career in tech, are you ever frightened by its power?

No, I am a technologist at heart and as somebody who inherently believes that most people do good. I’m first and foremost excited about the implications of the technology. (There are some) areas that we need to continue to monitor but at the end of the day, the ability to democratise, the ability for people to have access to technology and the profound way technology impacts society, I think it’s a good thing. So I’m overall excited. When we look at the Adobe products, we have millions of people using these products every day, and if we can learn how people are using them and make the products more affordable, more accessible, more fun, more intuitive ... We have to be aware and we have to have discussions and not be in denial of some of the consequences of this technology. I think our job is to bring exposure and scrutiny and lead by example. When data became this big thing, we were the first company 10, 11 years ago - when we bought (analytics tool) Omniture, to say how do you optimise your first-party data? So we didn’t shy away from it. I think it created this incredible user experience on mobile devices in terms of personalisation for scale. But even then, we were very clear about the line we were never going to cross, which is when we collect data on behalf of our customers it’s their data it’s not ours. I think the practices that most companies adhere to ... it’s about privacy, it’s about transparency, it’s about optics. It’s our job as leaders in the industry, to address (these issues) rather than shy away.

AI clearly has the capacity to impact business in both a negative and a positive way.

I’ve been hearing it for at least 25 years (about whether machines will have the human ingenuity to take over from humans). And have they made incredible strides? Yes, but humans have also made incredible strides in terms of how we process information, how we are able to navigate …

Some critics argue Adobe was complacent and did not innovate enough as more competitors entered the market?

If you look at our financial results, even during the pandemic … we’re in an absolutely rarefied atmosphere as it relates to driving both top line and profitable top line growth. I think there’s a move back towards profitability from perhaps the last few years of growth at any cost. In terms of category creation, over the last few years, we were the first company to say we’re going to create a category for digital marketing for companies who are engaging digitally. I think, when you look at Adobe Digital Index and how we power the digital economy, we’re there. But I think to your point, the market that we serve has become larger and larger and larger. It used to be that design was deemed to be the purview of just a few people, it was a profession that very few people could choose to pursue. But we’ve been saying for a long time that it’s the golden age of design. And so, as a result of that, if you’ve expanded the pie the way we have done it, it definitely is an encouragement to other companies to enter the market. I think it’s a good thing … good ideas come from everywhere. We’re still the largest company providing creative software for the world, which is something that I’m proud of.

You began as a product developer. Do you still have lots of ideas?

Make no mistake, at my core I love products and I love innovation; creating the future is what we stand for. Among my favourite experiences in Adobe is when you’re engaged with the product team, imagining the possibilities and then delivering them. There’s nothing more exciting and I’ve been part of some of the seminal changes in the company. I’m blessed because I am a product guy, I have the best job in the company and I get to choose where I want to spend my time.

Where do you see the sector going?

There’s a lot of conversation about 3D and what’s the next phase of the internet. If it’s going to be more immersive, it’s going to be more interactive? It’s an exciting space and it’s all about creative expression. And augmented reality, virtual reality, 3D. I think it matters less which one evolves at what pace. What will happen, undoubtedly, is that it will be more immersive, it’s going to be more engaging, it’s going to be more creative, and we have a massive role to play. (Then there’s) artificial intelligence and how do you really understand the power of computers and allow them to enable people to (develop) the ideas that they have in their head? When I started in this industry, one of the (questions) was, how can people focus on the task at hand and not have the computer in the way? I think AI will certainly provide ways to do that. I think the newest of our businesses, probably not as well understood, is digital experience which allows any company on the planet to engage digitally with any other customer, whether they be a B2B company or a B2C company, and understand that customer funnel. The genie is not going back in the bottle, the new hybrid world is here to stay. And so whether you’re one of the banks in Australia, NatWest or Commonwealth Bank, or the Australian Government and Coles and Woolworths and Tourism Australia – they’re all going to engage digitally with customers. We are the underlying engine for companies that are engaging with customers, so that I think is an incredibly exciting space.

Do you worry about people becoming addicted to technology?

The next generation and the younger generation are probably, on their devices all the time. Balance is important in all of these things.

Did you ever imagine you would be in this job?

I wanted to be a journalist and vicariously I’m in the publishing industry and technology is amazing! I’m so fortunate to be part of a company that’s inventing the future (and to) work with this incredibly energised, motivated set of people. I pinch myself sometimes. I am fortunate to have this incredible seat at the table.