Adobe’s Acrobat PDF Reader is Getting its Own AI Assistant

Adobe is launching today a beta version of a new AI Assistant in its Acrobat and Reader products. Using the same type of generative AI technology as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, the Adobe AI Assistant can answer questions about PDF documents, summarize them, and highlight key takeaways.

“Generative AI offers the promise of more intelligent document experiences by transforming the information inside PDFs into actionable knowledge and professional-looking content,” said Abhigyan Modi, senior vice president, Document Cloud. “PDF is the de facto standard for the world’s most important documents and the capabilities introduced today are just the beginning of the value AI Assistant will deliver through Reader and Acrobat applications and services.”

The Adobe AI Assistant generates responses with clickable attributions, which makes it easy for users to check where the information came from in the document. Users can also ask follow-up questions and see suggestions to continue the conversation with the assistant. They can also help to improve the tool by reporting accurate or inaccurate responses using “Like” and “Dislike” options on responses.

The AI Assistant can also use insights from a PDF to help users draft an email or create bullet points for a PowerPoint presentation. Moreover, it can do its AI magic in other documents (Word files, PowerPoint presentations, and more) that first need to be converted into PDF.

Adobe emphasized today that the generative AI technology behind its assistant is safe and responsible, with enterprise-grade security and information governance available for large business customers. “Adobe prohibits third-party LLMs from training on Adobe customer data,” the company explained.

Adobe’s new AI assistant is now available in beta on desktop and web for English users with an Acrobat Standard, Acrobat Pro Individual, or Acrobat for teams subscription. AI features will come to the free Acrobat Reader desktop app in English over the next few weeks. Once the Assistant goes out of beta, Adobe says that Reader and Acrobat customers will be able to access “the full range of AI Assistant capabilities” via a paid subscription, though pricing details are still unknown.