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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Adobe apps launch in ChatGPT.
- The apps are free to access.
- The three apps: Photoshop, Express, and Acrobat.
Adobe Photoshop is such a powerful image editing tool that it can be intimidating to use, even for the simplest of edits, like blurring a background. Now, a new integration with ChatGPT apps makes editing an image as easy as entering a conversational prompt into the chatbot.
On Wednesday, Adobe launched its Adobe apps for ChatGPT, giving users access to Adobe Photoshop, Express, and Acrobat directly within ChatGPT. The perks of the approach are that the AI will complete your task, whether it’s adjusting the lighting of a photo in Photoshop, creating a holiday party invitation in Express, or merging two documents in Acrobat.
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The best part is that the experience is available to all ChatGPT desktop, web, and iOS users for free globally, starting today. Here is everything you need to know, including live demos and suggestions for why I think you’ll want to try it out.
How it works
Similar to using other ChatGPT apps, to activate any of the Adobe apps for ChatGPT, select the app from the textbox by clicking the (+) icon. Again, because it’s free for users, there is no subscription or Adobe app downloading requirement. You also don’t have to log in to Adobe, and there are no limits inside ChatGPT.
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Once selected, you can enter the conversational task for what you want done, which depends on the app you are using. ChatGPT will then get to work on the final product.
The demos
Photoshop
In one of the Photoshop demos, the demonstrator typed in the prompt “convert the image to BW” and added an image from a trip to Japan.
Then, the app opened right within the ChatGPT interface and produced the image in black and white. Particularly notable was that the AI included controls, such as a slider widget, which the demonstrator used to adjust the exposure, dark values, and white values directly within ChatGPT.
In another example, he uploaded a second image, asking the chatbot to “add some effects,” which produced different options, such as a “glitch” effect, which could be customized within the chatbot and adjusted.
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The editing in ChatGPT follows the non-destructive editing conventions used in Photoshop, allowing users to click the “Open in Photoshop” button to open the image in Photoshop on the web, with the edits preserved as editable layers.
Adobe Express
The Adobe Express integration in ChatGPT is similar to the Canva integration, which I tested at launch in October and enjoyed. If you are unfamiliar with Adobe Express, it is a platform for creating visual content, including flyers, social media posts (photo and video), documents, web pages, presentations, logos, and more. With the ChatGPT integration, you can now create this content using a text prompt.
In the demo, after entering the prompt “retro and festive” ideas for a holiday party, the tool generated an on-theme flyer template. To edit the components, such as the background color and text details, the demonstrator could use other follow-up conversational prompts.
If the tech works as seamlessly as in the demo upon release, this integration will provide an advantage over the Canva app, which, at the time of launch, required manual editing in Canva for the most accurate results.
Adobe Acrobat
While the capabilities in Adobe Acrobat are perhaps the simplest, it is a helpful use case. Now users can merge PDFs, directly edit text, and even adjust formatting and commenting using ChatGPT.
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In the demos I saw of all three use cases, the AI did the tasks well. You can also use the technology to redact sensitive materials.