Adobe launches AI assistant that may search and summarize PDFs

Adobe on Tuesday launched a synthetic intelligence assistant in its Reader and Acrobat purposes that may produce summaries of and reply questions on PDFs and different paperwork.

The AI assistant, presently in beta, is now accessible on Acrobat, “with options coming to Reader over the approaching days and weeks,” in accordance with a news release. Adobe plans to launch a subscription plan for the device after it’s out of beta.

The AI assistant will assist customers digest data from lengthy PDF paperwork by producing transient overviews of their contents, the corporate mentioned. The assistant may also reply questions concerning the data in a doc by means of a “conversational interface,” and counsel questions concerning the file that customers may ask.

Adobe mentioned the AI assistant may also generate citations that enable customers to confirm the supply of the device’s solutions, and may produce textual content for varied codecs reminiscent of emails, displays and experiences, in accordance with the information launch.

Different AI fashions reminiscent of ChatGPT provide PDF readers that equally expedite analyses of prolonged paperwork, however these providers require customers to add a PDF. Adobe’s AI assistant is a built-in characteristic.

In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Tuesday, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen mentioned the brand new device represents the corporate’s objective to “democratize entry” to the trillions of PDFs in use.

“Simply think about you have opened a 100-page doc. You need to perceive the abstract, you need to have a dialog with it, you need to ask questions,” Narayen mentioned. “You need to correlate that with different paperwork that you simply might need in addition to all the data that you’ve in your enterprise.”

Final week, OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, launched a new tool that generates lifelike, high-definition video off a textual content immediate. Responding to a query about whether or not OpenAI’s mannequin, referred to as Sora, represents an encroachment on Adobe’s turf, Narayen mentioned the corporate is “engaged on our video fashions as nicely” and intends to use that know-how “in a accountable means” to “instruments and workflows.”