According to ExtremeTech, as of December 10, Adobe has integrated three of its flagship applications—Photoshop, Adobe Express, and Acrobat—directly into OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The free integration allows users to invoke these tools by typing commands like “Adobe Photoshop, help me blur the background” right in the ChatGPT interface, guiding them through multi-step workflows without switching apps. It’s available now on ChatGPT’s desktop, web, and iOS versions, with Adobe Express already live on Android and support for Photoshop and Acrobat coming to Android soon. Crucially, the report notes that users do not need an existing Adobe subscription to access these app functions within the chat. This move is framed as a potential competitive response from OpenAI, following an internal “code red” as Google rapidly advanced in the AI space.
Adobe’s Free-For-All Strategy
So, Adobe is giving away core editing features for free inside ChatGPT. That’s huge. Here’s the thing: this isn’t really about getting you to use ChatGPT. It’s a classic, brilliant customer acquisition funnel. They’re removing every single barrier to entry. No download, no install, no credit card, not even an account. You just start *using* Photoshop. The moment you hit a limit or want to save your project in a specific way, bam—you’ll get the nudge to sign up for a real Creative Cloud subscription. It’s a masterclass in product-led growth. They’re betting that the sheer convenience and magic of doing it all in one chat window will hook people who’d never open the actual Adobe apps.
OpenAI’s App Store Moment
For OpenAI, this is a massive play. Think about it. They’re not just a chatbot anymore; they’re becoming a platform. A layer that sits on top of other, complex software and makes it accessible through conversation. This is exactly the kind of ecosystem move that turns a product into a standard. And the timing? It definitely feels like a counter-punch. With Google’s AI models making waves, OpenAI needs to prove ChatGPT is more than just a language model—it’s a workflow hub. Getting a giant like Adobe onboard as a launch partner is a serious credibility boost. It signals to every other software company: “Your app should live here, too.”
Who Actually Benefits?
Okay, but is this useful? For casual users and small businesses, absolutely. The ability to quickly blur a photo background, whip up a social media graphic from a template, or combine a few PDFs without ever leaving a chat window is a genuine time-saver. It democratizes access to powerful tools. But for professionals? I’m skeptical. The commands shown are pretty basic. A pro graphic designer or photographer isn’t going to ditch their meticulously configured Photoshop workspace to type requests into a chatbot. The value here is for the millions of people who need “good enough” edits fast, not pixel-perfect control. Basically, it’s about capturing the long tail of users Adobe’s subscription model has always missed.
The Bigger Picture
Look, this integration is a clear signpost for where software is headed. The interface is becoming the conversation. Why click through a maze of menus when you can just ask for what you want? Adobe and OpenAI are betting that’s the future. The real test will be how deep the integration goes. Can you do complex, layered edits in Photoshop through chat? Can you build a full brand kit in Express? If it stays at simple, one-step commands, it’s a neat trick. If it evolves into a true conversational layer over the full power of these apps, it could change how we think about using software altogether. For now, it’s a free and fascinating experiment—and one you should probably try.
