At its MAX 2026 conference in Miami Beach this week, Adobe previewed Project Live Set. It’s an experimental tool that lets you direct an AI-generated video while it’s still being made. Instead of typing a prompt and waiting, you steer the shot as it plays.
Research preview
Adobe showed Project Live Set during its MAX Sneaks session, which Terry Crews hosted this year. Sneaks is where Adobe’s researchers show off tech that may or may not end up in a product. Live Set is an early research preview. There’s no beta to join yet.
The idea grew out of a familiar complaint. Film teams using generative AI kept asking Adobe for faster versions of its existing tools so they could spot problems in a clip sooner. Gautham Mysore, who leads Adobe’s video and audio research group, told Inc. that waiting eats up a big chunk of the creative process today. It also breaks a creator’s flow. Live Set takes a different route. Rather than shortening the wait, it removes it by letting you shape the clip as it renders.
A live, directable canvas
Adobe describes Live Set as a way to turn video into a live, directable canvas. The video streams as it’s generated. You can pause on any frame to make precise fixes or redirect the scene with text prompts or your voice while it plays. Rewinding to an earlier moment works too. You can even run several versions side by side.
Adobe says the tool can also generate open-ended video that runs as long as you need, including a livestream. Another mode builds a live scene around you, with objects and environments that react as you interact with them.
On its Adobe Labs page, the team compares Live Set to a sketching tool for moving images. Think of it as a fast draft you could later hand off to a more powerful model.
Live video editing
Streaming is where Live Set could hit hardest. Adobe pitches real-time generative assets that streamers can interact with on air. It also imagines personalized streams in which viewers restyle characters, wardrobes and environments on the fly.
The editing side is more practical. Live Set can swap products in ads or remove objects. It can also fix artifacts and change backgrounds without regenerating the whole video.
Live demonstration
Adobe ran the demo live onstage. The presenter started with a prompt for a video of a boxing cat. As the AI generated it, the clip filled in along a timeline with real-time playback.
Next, the presenter paused and added new prompts. One gave the cat a chef’s hat. Others swapped the cat for a dog and an alligator. Generation picked back up, and four new versions appeared on the timeline side by side.
The second half of the demo moved to live camera video. The presenter’s jacket became a tuxedo. His pen turned into a flower, and his phone became a glass of red wine.
Why video shooters should care
Many of today’s AI video tools work like a slot machine. You write a prompt, wait for the render and hope. If the shot misses, you start over. Live Set behaves more like a camera operator taking direction, which is closer to how you already work on set. You call for a change, watch it happen and adjust.
For editors, the live editing tools are the bigger story. Swapping a product in a spot or pulling a stray object out of frame usually means masking, tracking and plenty of rendering. Doing that on the fly would save real hours on commercial work.
Live streamers get a new toy too. Real-time generated sets could give a one-person show the look of a much bigger production.
Pricing and availability
Project Live Set isn’t available to the public. Adobe hasn’t announced a price or a release date, and Live Set isn’t among the Adobe Labs Playground previews the company opened at MAX. If you want to try it, you can sign up on the Adobe Labs site to get notified if it becomes a public experiment.
What we think
Don’t expect Project Live Set in Premiere Pro or Firefly anytime soon. It’s an early research preview, and Sneaks projects don’t always ship. Adobe hasn’t shared details about the AI models underneath it, either.
Still, it’s a fascinating look at where AI video is headed. Directing a generation in real time means you shape the output as it’s created instead of rolling the dice on every render. The live video tricks were impressive. They were also a little unsettling, given how easily the tech could be misused.
Live Set may never ship in this form. Generative AI is moving fast, though. The gap between a Sneaks demo and a feature you can use keeps shrinking.
