In this brief talk I will present the current and near-future adaptive optics (AO) capabilities of ESO's VLT. I will report on a recent meeting at ESO, where we discussed science cases for future AO instrumentation at the VLT in the era of the E-ELT. Probably within the next year, the science cases for a 3rd generation AO instrument (to arrive at the VLT in ~ 2025) will be laid down in a white paper. The goal of my talk is to get the IAA involved in science - and possibly instrumental development - as soon as possible.