ChatGPT users can now access Adobe Photoshop for free.
ChatGPT is expanding its toolkit, with Adobe joining forces with OpenAI to offer ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly users complimentary access to Photoshop’s premier image editing capabilities. The collaboration will integrate features from Photoshop, Adobe Express, and Acrobat directly into ChatGPT, a move Adobe describes as making creativity more accessible for everyone.
In a statement, Adobe president of digital media David Wadhwani explained that the integration lets users describe in words how they want to apply Photoshop’s vast array of features, filters, and effects to their generative AI images, all within a platform they already use daily.
However, the ChatGPT versions of Adobe tools aren’t as fully featured as the standalone applications. Notably, Adobe’s generative AI components aren’t included in this integration, since ChatGPT itself recently updated its own image-creation capabilities.
A strategic push into the AI operating system space
This partnership continues Adobe’s ongoing rollout of genAI features across its suite, which began in mid-2023 with new AI-powered capabilities in Photoshop and expanded to other products like Acrobat Studio, Photoshop AI assistants, Adobe Express, and Firefly. Adobe Firefly even received updates this week to enhance AI-driven video creation tools and introduce new models with more flexible generation options.
Adobe’s move isn’t merely altruistic. Recognizing the rapid rise of genAI platforms, Adobe is aligning with what’s currently the most widely used genAI ecosystem to secure a position before competitors do.
OpenAI already supports connections to external storage and collaboration tools such as Google Drive, GitHub, SharePoint, and Dropbox. Canva and other major platforms—Booking.com, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, Spotify, and Zillow—are among the leaders expanding OpenAI’s app ecosystem.
This trend is reshaping how people work with AI, as ChatGPT-based workflows increasingly connect personal and professional content with third-party services. Tools like Canva’s integrated design workflows and upcoming agent-inspired AI features are examples of this broader trend.
At the core of this cross-platform glue is Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open-source standard that lets genAI platforms hand off tasks to specialized third-party services. In effect, chatbots—and not just ChatGPT—could evolve into the next generation of operating systems.
High-stakes AI platform battles
The AI platform arena is intensifying. Disney recently signed a three-year, $1.5 billion deal with OpenAI to empower its Sora video-generation tool with a library of over 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars characters for licensed, prompt-driven videos. This marks a bold move for Disney, which has also joined forces with rival Universal in a lawsuit against Midjourney, alleging plagiarism on a large scale.
With the Disney initiative, OpenAI gains a powerful use case for licensed character media, while Disney seeks to protect its intellectual property amid a crowded AI landscape. The agreement sparked broader industry tensions, including a cease-and-desist from Disney to Google over perceived copyright infringements, illustrating how licensing and IP issues are shaping AI development.
Industry observers emphasize that unions representing creative workers have raised concerns about rights and compensation, particularly noting that the deal excludes human actors’ voices or likenesses. Yet many agree that the shift toward AI-enabled creativity is already underway and unlikely to be reversed.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman framed Disney’s collaboration as a responsible AI milestone, describing Disney as a benchmark for storytelling and highlighting how such partnerships can promote innovation, safeguard creativity, and broaden audiences.
