Adobe Introduces AI Assistant for Reader and Acrobat

Adobe has unveiled the AI Assistant in beta, a generative AI-powered conversational engine that is integrated into Reader and Acrobat.

Designed to elevate digital document experiences by providing users with instant document summaries, answering questions, and formatting information for sharing, the AI Assistant builds upon the technology of Acrobat Liquid Mode, recognized for its responsive reading experiences for mobile PDFs. 

By leveraging AI and ML, AI Assistant claims to transform information within the approximately three trillion PDFs globally into actionable knowledge, promising a significant impact on digital document interactions.

While AI Assistant is currently in beta, Adobe plans to offer a new add-on subscription plan for Reader and Acrobat customers once it is officially released. During the beta phase, these features are available at no additional cost for Acrobat Standard and Pro Individual and Teams subscription plans in English, with features gradually rolling out to Reader desktop customers in English and other languages in the coming weeks. A private beta is available for enterprise customers.

The beta version is available for free. Adobe plans to offer a new add-on subscription plan for Acrobat customers at $12.99 per month for Standard. The Pro version will come at $19.99 per month.

“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 for Document Cloud at Adobe. “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.”

Key Capabilities of Adobe's AI Assistant

Acrobat Individual, Pro, and Teams customers, as well as Acrobat Pro trialists, can immediately benefit from the beta version of AI Assistant. The features include a conversational interface, where the AI Assistant recommends and answers questions based on the content within a PDF. This is facilitated through an intuitive conversational interface. 

Additionally, users can quickly understand lengthy documents with concise overviews presented in easily readable formats through the generative summary feature. The AI Assistant’s attribution engine generates intelligent citations, ensuring transparency about the source of its answers.

The tool also improves navigation through lengthy documents, with clickable links facilitating efficient exploration of vital information. It can also consolidate and format information into actionable takeaways, suitable for emails, presentations, and reports. The presence of a "copy" button simplifies the sharing process. Moreover, the compatibility of AI Assistant extends beyond PDFs to various document formats, including Word, PowerPoint, and meeting transcripts.

However, the model is built on a responsible approach and adheres to strict data security protocols, ensuring that customer document content is not stored or used for training without explicit consent.

Future Capabilities

Adobe envisions further developments in generative AI to revolutionize digital documents. The company plans to include more features like insights across documents, where AI Assistant will work across multiple documents, types, and sources, instantly extracting crucial information. It also wants to make document creation easier by assisting in generating first drafts, copy editing, and suggesting content design and layout through AI-powered authoring.

The other capabilities will include the integration of Adobe's creative generative models to enhance document creativity and professionalism and AI-supported reviews to promote collaboration by analyzing feedback, suggesting changes, and helping resolve conflicting comments during collaborative reviews.