Issue with Arc B390 GPU acceleration in Lightroom 2026 (Assisted Culling)

[CunminF]

Hello everyone, I have encountered an issue while using the new Assisted Culling feature in Lightroom 2026. It appears that my Arc B390 GPU is not being utilized; instead, all related calculations are running on the CPU, resulting in extremely slow performance. I hope to see optimizations for this in future driver updates. My System Specifications: Device: ThinkBook 14 G8+ IPH Processor: Intel Core Ultra X7 358H GPU Driver Version: 32.0.101.8626

[CM_Intel]

Hello CunminF,

Thank you for posting on the Intel Community Forum.

We understand you are experiencing issues with GPU acceleration in Lightroom 2026 while using the Intel Arc B390 graphics card. To help isolate the cause, kindly perform the troubleshooting steps listed below:

1.  Update Graphics Drivers: Ensure the GPU driver is at least version 32.0.101.8626 or newer, specifically looking for Arc-optimized drivers.
2. Reset GPU Preferences: Navigate to Preferences > Performance, set "Use Graphics Processor" to Off to test stability, then to Custom to test if specific features are causing the crash.
3. Disable Assisted Culling: If the popup is locking the application, it can be disabled by going to Catalog Settings > Metadata and unchecking "Analyze photos of selected source when assisted culling panel is open".
4. Windows Graphic Settings: Force Lightroom to use the high-performance GPU: Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics. Find Lightroom.exe and set it to High Performance.
5. Clean Driver Install: Use the Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) tool to completely remove existing Intel graphics drivers, then reinstall the latest version. 

Workarounds:

If the issue persists, the primary workaround involves disabling the AI culling feature or turning off GPU acceleration in Preferences > Performance temporarily until a fix is released. Given the "Early Access" nature of the feature mentioned in some, updating to the newest version of Lightroom is highly recommended.

Once you’ve completed these steps, please share the results with us so we can assist you further. I look forward to your response.

Best regards,

CM

Intel Customer Support Technician

[CunminF]

Hello CM,

Thank you for the suggestions. Based on your advice, I have tried the following steps:
1, Updated the GPU driver to version 32.0.101.8626.
2, After resetting GPU preferences, Lightroom 2026 did not crash, but the GPU still not being utilized in Assisted Culling (although other features, such as denoise, it's working normally).
3, Verified that the Windows Graphics Settings are configured correctly.
4, Performed a clean installation of the GPU driver (uninstalled the old version before reinstalling).

Despite these adjustments, Assisted Culling still fails to engage the GPU. My current workaround is to disable Assisted Culling, which allows Lightroom to run normally.

However, Assisted Culling is critical to my workflow, so I hope to see a fix for this soon.

Best regards,

CunminF

[CM_Intel]

Hello CunminF,

I wanted to check if you had the chance to review the questions I posted. Please let me know at your earliest convenience so that we can determine the best course of action to resolve this matter.

Best regards,

CM

Intel Customer Support Technician

[CM_Intel]

Hello CunminF,

Thankyou for your response.

I appreciate the effort you have put in troubleshooting the issue and sharing the details with us. To help us investigate this further and provide accurate guidance, may I kindly request the following details:

1. Was this issue present with the previous graphics driver versions you used?

2. Was the issue persisting when using an older version of the Lightroom application?

3. Please share the exact steps you follow in the application up until the issue occurs.

4. Share screenshots or video recording of the issue would be extremely helpful.

5. Please confirm the exact Lightroom 2026 version you are currently using.

6. Where was the application downloaded from?

7. Kindly provide an SSU report for a deeper look into the system configuration.

Please note: While generating the SSU report, kindly uncheck the “Networking” option.

These details will help us proceed further accordingly.

Thank you for your cooperation, and I look forward to your reply.

Best regards,

CM

Intel Customer Support Technician

[CunminF]

Hello CM,

Thank you for your response. Please find the requested information below:
1, Yes, the issue persists with previous GPU driver versions as well. (It appears as though Assisted Culling has never supported Intel GPUs.)
2, Older versions of Lightroom did not have the Assisted Culling feature, so this issue was not present.
3, Any invocation of Assisted Culling triggers this issue. You can refer to Adobe's documentation (Select best photos with Assisted Culling) for typical usage scenarios to attempt reproduction.
4, I have attached screenshots. Please note that there is no observed GPU usage here (whereas GPU usage is clearly visible when using Apple Silicon or NVIDIA GPUs).

5, The Lightroom version is 15.2, which is the new version released in February 2026.6, It was downloaded from Adobe.
7, I have attached an SSU Report. Hope this is helpful.

Best regards,
CunminF

[CM_Intel]

Hello CunminF,

Thank you for your detailed response and for sharing all the requested information, including the screenshots and the SSU report. We truly appreciate the time and effort you took to gather and provide these details.

We will proceed with further investigation based on the information you’ve shared. Once we have further insights or an update on the next steps, we will get back to you shortly.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation. 

Best regards,

CM

Intel Customer Support Technician

[George_Intel]

Hello CunminF,

I will be providing support for this issue moving forward.  I have seen the same results as you for the Assisted Culling feature on the Intel Arc B390 GPUs and the latest drivers.

The issue has been escalated and I will keep you posted on any updates.

Best Regards,

George

[CunminF]

Hello George,

I really appreciate your hard work on this issue. Looking forward to seeing some progress soon!

Best Regards,

CunminF

[George_Intel]

Hello @CunminF ,

Thank you for your continued patience.  I wanted to let you know that the issue investigation is still ongoing, I will update you here once there are further updates.

Best Regards,

George

[George_Intel]

Hello @CunminF ,

Just wanted to let you know that we are still working on this issue.  Intel is engaged with Adobe and investigating the best solution. 

I will continue to let you know of any updates as they come.  

Best Regards, 

George

[George_Intel]

Hello @CunminF ,

Engagement continues on this issue, just wanted to let you know that it is still being investigated.

Appreciate your patience.

Best Regards, 

Jeff