A new generative AI experience is coming to Adobe’s cloud-based Express design platform, enabling you to transform projects by vaguely describing what changes to make. Adobe describes the “AI Assistant in Adobe Express” launching in public beta today as a conversational creative agent that “empowers people of every skill level” to quickly create visual content, without having to understand specific design terms or creative tools.
The feature is available as a toggle in the top-left corner of the Adobe Express web app. When activated, the usual homepage interface and tool options will be replaced by a chatbot-style text box, with options to make a new design or edit existing images. Users can surface a selection of curated presets by describing what they need to make, such as “fall-themed wedding invitation” or “retro-inspired poster for school science fair,” and edit their selection with natural language prompts.
For users without professional design experience, the AI assistant is capable of making adjustments based on vague requests like “make this pop” or “give this a jungle theme.” Users can also specify specific parts of the design to change, such as replacing backgrounds, fonts, and individual elements or layers of an asset, leaving the rest of the design unchanged. The tool pulls from a variety of sources, including Adobe’s Font and stock image library, or generates image assets from scratch to match specific requests using Adobe’s Firefly AI models.
An entire design can be created using the AI assistant, or users can toggle it off at any time to make manual changes using Express tools. It can also fulfill requests that would require a combination of Express tools, like resizing and reformatting completed designs, or converting them into animations.
“You decide when and how to work with them. The experience is hybrid by design,” Adobe’s chief technology officer, Ely Greenfield, said in the announcement. “They act like capable teammates — taking on the work that distracts you from your craft, so you can accomplish more while staying firmly in creative control.
This is the latest expansion of Adobe’s plans to integrate conversational AI assistants across its wider product ecosystem, which started with Adobe Acrobat last year. A similar chatbot-style editor is also launching in private beta for Photoshop, and Adobe says it’s working on making the Express AI assistant available as an integration for third-party apps like ChatGPT. The goal is that these Adobe AI assistants will eventually “work together seamlessly across your apps,” according to Greenfield, allowing them to eventually adapt to your personal style and anticipate the assistance you need in the future.