Following Spotify and Canva, OpenAI has taken another step in its ambition to create an "AI super app." Adobe announced that its three major productivity tools—Photoshop, Acrobat, and Adobe Express—are now officially integrated into the ChatGPT platform. This means that more than 8 million ChatGPT users worldwide will no longer need to frequently switch windows to directly access Adobe's powerful functions to process images or documents within the chat interface.
By incorporating MCP technology, photo editing is no longer a "black box."
This integration is not just a simple API call, but a deep connection through OpenAI's MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. Users only need to enter commands in the dialog box (such as "brighten this image") or call them through the "+" menu, and ChatGPT will invoke Adobe tools.
The most interesting aspect is how Photoshop is presented in ChatGPT. It doesn't simply send back a edited image; instead, it displays corresponding "control sliders" in the dialog box based on your commands. For example:
• If you say you want to brighten, the interface will display adjustment levers for exposure, shadows, and highlights.
• If you say you want to add special effects, the corresponding filter options will appear.
This design makes AI photo editing no longer an untouchable black box; users can enjoy the convenience of AI while still retaining control over fine-tuning parameters. As for Acrobat and Adobe Express, users can generate PDFs or design posters directly within the conversation, but some functions still require logging into an Adobe account to use.
Adobe: We provide the LEGO bricks, and ChatGPT assembles them.
Regarding the outside world's curiosity that OpenAI already has image generation technologies such as DALL-E, isn't Adobe's move a case of "raising a tiger to cause trouble"? Aubrey Cattell, Vice President of Adobe Developer Platform, clearly doesn't think so.
Aubrey Cattell described Adobe as providing MCP tools and detailed instructions like "Lego bricks," while ChatGPT is responsible for understanding user intent and assembling it. He believes that OpenAI's Apps SDK is like a new operating system, through which Adobe brings its applications to this new interface, and the two are naturally complementary in terms of workflow.
Analysis: A Win-Win Strategy to Lower the Barrier to Professional Software Development
In my opinion, this is a good move for both sides. For OpenAI, it further solidifies ChatGPT's position as a "universal assistant"; for Adobe, the interfaces of professional software such as Photoshop are often too complex, deterring many casual users.
Through ChatGPT's natural language interface, users can perform basic photo editing in the most intuitive way (by speaking). When users find that the AI processing results are not precise enough and they need more control, the interface also provides a button that can jump back to Adobe's web version of the program with one click. This not only lowers the barrier to entry but also creates a huge potential user referral portal for Adobe.
