Beyond the Hype: The State of AI in Creative Work – Envato’s Second Annual Report Finds AI Adoption Has Outrun the Rules
53% of Creatives Using AI Have Used It on Key Client Work Without Telling the Client
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Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Survey of over 1,000 creative professionals in 103 countries reveals 58% now use AI every day, yet over half of AI users have used it on key client work without telling the client, and taste, not prompting, is what drives quality.
WHAT: Envato, the leading all-in-one creative asset toolkit empowering millions of creatives worldwide with creative stock and AI-powered tools, releases its second annual Beyond the Hype: The State of AI in Creative Work report. From experiment to everyday tool: what changed for creatives in a year. Based on a survey of 1,033 creative professionals across 103 countries and territories, as well as interviews with leading creatives, including &Walsh founder Jessica Walsh, the report tests six assumptions the creative industry holds about AI. In each case, the data says something more specific.
WHEN: Tuesday, November 10th
WHY IT MATTERS:
AI is no longer an experiment for creative professionals. 87% now use it at least occasionally, and 58% say it’s a daily habit, up 9 points from last year. But adoption has outrun the rules. Over half of creatives who use AI have used it on key client work without telling the client, and many organizations still haven’t set a policy. For brands and agencies, that’s a trust issue arriving faster than the rules for handling it. The findings also challenge some of the industry’s favorite assumptions. Six in ten creatives use AI agents, yet very few let them run any part of the work alone. Nearly three times as many creatives say taste drives quality as say prompt skill does. And AI is paying creatives back in time, not money.
For Envato CEO Hichame Assi, the findings are encouraging.
“Almost every creative we heard from is using AI at work now, but very few are letting it run unchecked,” said Assi. “Even with the pace of change and the pressure to deliver, they’re watching it closely and keeping the final say, which tells me the taste and judgment that creatives bring are just as important as ever.”
KEY FINDINGS:
Adoption Has Outrun the Rules – 53% of AI users have used it on key client work without telling the client, and most of them see no problem with that: 46% have done so and don’t think it needs disclosing, while only 7% felt uncomfortable about it. Formal guidance hasn’t caught up. Even in organizations of 250+ people, 40% have no written AI policy and only 49% have read one. The most experienced creatives are the most transparent: 53% of those aged 50+ always tell clients, compared with 40% overall.
Creatives Keep the Final Cut – Agentic AI has gone mainstream, with 59% of AI users and experimenters using agentic tools (36% regularly). But only 4–11% let AI handle any stage of their work with little input. For generating, it’s just 7%. “Directing closely” is the most common approach at five of six stages of creative work. Editing is held tightest (15% hands-off), yet 42% expect to use more AI in that area next year.
Taste Outranks Prompting – Creatives rank taste and judgment as the top driver of quality (53%), followed by craft (49%). Prompt skill comes last of eight drivers (19%). When AI concepts get dropped, it’s because they missed the brief (34%) or had errors (32%). Only 5% were dropped for lacking human feeling. Creatives generate a median of five options and Keep a third of those.
For Jessica Walsh, founder and creative director of &Walsh, the advantage won’t come from the tools. “The tools are going to keep getting easier and more accessible, so knowing how to use them won’t be what sets creatives apart,” said Walsh. “Being able to recognize great work when you see it is not something you can prompt, or learn overnight.”
AI Pays in Time, Not Money – 49% of creatives say AI makes them faster, but only 7% say it translates into increased earnings, with 16% earning the same for less effort. Among creatives whose rates changed this year, speed (34%), reputation (31%), and creative direction (30%) all outranked AI skills (25%). Meanwhile, 18% say clients expect AI work to cost less.
Stock and AI Do Different Jobs – Creatives choose stock when it feels more authentic (48%) or is better quality (48%), and generate when they need something customized (40%) or nothing in the library fits (38%). Cost barely comes into it: only 15% generate to avoid licensing costs, and just 6% adopted AI because it’s cheaper.
Rather than replacing one another, stock and AI are increasingly used together in the same project. “Creatives aren’t choosing between stock and AI. They’re using both,” said Arlyn Panopio, Head of Creative and Brand Marketing at Envato. “They’ll start with real footage or an image, then riff on it with AI, adjusting the grade, swapping the background or extending the shot until it matches.”
AI’s Weak Spot Is Consistency, Not Soul – Visual consistency is the hardest thing to get across to AI (56%, with 31% calling it the single hardest), ahead of authenticity (43%) and originality (37%). The challenge for creatives isn’t making AI feel human. It’s making AI work hold together across a project.
DOWNLOAD: The Beyond the Hype: The State of AI in Creative Work report is available at https://elements.envato.com/lp/ai-in-creative-work-report/.
ABOUT THE RESEARCH: Envato surveyed 1,033 creative professionals in 103 countries and territories over three weeks in September 2026. All respondents are Envato subscribers. Respondents are based in Latin America (28%), the US (24%), Europe (19%), Asia (8%), the Middle East and Africa (7%), the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (7% combined) and the rest of the world (6%). The sample spans Millennials (46%), Gen Z (27%), Gen X (24%) and Baby Boomers (3%), and disciplines including video and film (27%), graphic design (21%), art and creative direction (12%), content creation (10%), motion graphics (7%), marketing (6%) and web design and development (3%). Over half (52%) are solo operators, working as freelancers (45%) or one-person businesses. One in five runs a creative agency or studio; a further 15% work for one; and the remainder work at non-agency businesses as employees (16%) or owners (3%).
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ABOUT ENVATO: A global leader in creative technology since 2006, Envato (owned by Shutterstock) helps millions of creative professionals find, create and finish their work in one place. Envato brings together 29+ million commercial-ready, human-curated stock assets across video, music, sound effects, graphics, photos, templates, LUTs, 3D and fonts with AI tools for image, video, music, sound, voice and graphics, powered by leading models. Because stock, AI editing and generation sit alongside project Workspaces, creatives can start from a stock asset, refine it with AI, and build each generation on the last without switching tools. Envato offers flexible subscription plans for individuals, teams and enterprises.
Contact Info
Joanna Birleson
joanna.birleson@envato.com
+61 3 9018 3034
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