Adobe has unveiled new artificial intelligence features for Acrobat that aim to simplify how people read and understand contracts. The enhancement comes as research shows nearly 70% of consumers sign contracts without fully understanding their terms.

The updated Acrobat AI Assistant can now automatically recognize contracts, generate plain-language summaries, highlight key terms, and compare differences across multiple documents. The system can analyze both digital and scanned documents, providing clickable citations that allow users to verify AI-generated explanations against the original text.

"Customers open billions of contracts in Adobe Acrobat each month and AI can be a game changer in helping simplify their experience," said Abhigyan Modi, senior vice president of Adobe Document Cloud.

“We are introducing new capabilities to deliver contract intelligence in Adobe AI Assistant, making it easier for customers to understand and compare these complex documents and providing citations to help them verify responses, all while keeping their data safe.”

The contract analysis capability builds on Adobe's Acrobat AI Assistant, which was launched in February 2024. The company reports that user engagement with the AI feature doubled in the final quarter of 2024, reflecting growing adoption among Acrobat's 650 million monthly active users.

Adobe emphasizes its commitment to data security and ethical AI development, stating that it does not train its generative AI models on customer data and prevents third-party language models from accessing Adobe customer information. The system combines large language models with Adobe's existing Liquid Mode technology to enhance accuracy in understanding document structure and content.

The new AI contract features are available as an add-on for both free Reader and paid Acrobat individual users at $US4.99 per month. The service currently supports English-language documents across desktop, web, and mobile platforms, with additional language support planned for the future.

The enhancement addresses a significant market need, as a recent Adobe survey revealed that 64% of small business owners have avoided signing contracts due to uncertainty about understanding their content. The AI assistant aims to help users navigate everything from credit card agreements to vendor contracts and purchase orders more confidently.