Adobe is adding a new generative AI experience to its Acrobat PDF management software, which aims to “completely transform the digital document experience” by making information in long documents easier to find and understand. Announced in Adobe’s press release as “AI Assistant in Acrobat,” the new tool is described as a “conversational engine” that can summarize files, answer questions, and recommend more based on the content, allowing users to “easily chat with documents” to get the information they need. It’s available in beta starting today for paying Acrobat users.
The idea is that the chatbot will reduce the time-consuming tasks related to working with massive text documents — such as helping students quickly find information for research projects or summarizing large reports into snappy highlights for emails, meetings, and presentations. AI Assistant in Acrobat can be used with all document formats supported by the app, including Word and PowerPoint. The chatbot abides by Adobe’s data security protocols, so it won’t store data from customer documents or use it to train AI Assistant.
At launch, AI Assistant can assess a document’s contents and recommend questions that users may wish to explore, in addition to answering questions about that content. The feature also generates citations that allow users to verify the source of the answers provided by AI Assistant and can create clickable links that jump directly to specific information within long documents. Acrobat users can also ask the chatbot to consolidate and format information into digestible copy for emails, reports, presentations, and more.