Adobe Systems Inc. is applying artificial intelligence to new areas, for example recently infusing machine learning into Photoshop to save time for designers. Today, it’s bringing similar automation features to Experience Manager, its marketing content platform for enterprises, in an effort to help companies more easily create and target marketing content.

“Everyone’s becoming a creator,” Elliot Sedegah, Adobe’s group manager of strategy and product marketing for Experience Manager, said in an interview. “There are intelligent things you can do along the way without having to think about what’s underneath.”

Headlining the seven update is a capability called Smart Layout. According to Adobe, the tool uses AI to analyze the graphical assets in a company’s Experience Manager deployment and recommend what items should be added to a web page for members of a given target audience. Moreover, it generates advice for how to organize the items in a way that increases engagement.

In cases when a designer wishes to pick out graphics on their own, they can take advantage of the new Smart Tags feature. It automatically labels a company’s images based on key attributes to help users find relevant items faster. Since the capability is based on machine learning technology like Smart Layout, Adobe said, accuracy improves over time as more assets are added.

“What I like about some of these enhancements to Adobe Experience Manager is the ability to go from creative to campaign with AI to guide marketers,” Cindy Zhou, vice president and principal analyst at Constellation Research Inc., told SiliconANGLE. “Both Smart Layout and Smart Tagging are the standouts in my opinion. Both of these features will save users a significant amount of time and enable a faster go-to-market.”

Once a web page has been put together, marketing teams can use Experience Manager to fine-tune delivery. A file optimizer included in the new Experience Manager release shrinks the data footprint of images by up to 70 percent depending on the strengthen of a user’s connection and what device they’re use.

Such optimization can often negatively affect viewability, but Adobe said its AI technology mitigates the impact. A new tool dubbed Smart Crop (pictured) finds the focal point of an image when the asset has to be resized to fit a device’s screen and makes sure that it’s not cut out.

The AI features in the release are based on Adobe Sensei, a set of interwoven machine learning technologies that the company has implemented across its product portfolio, similar to the way Salesforce.com Inc. uses its Einstein machine learning platform. The two cloud giants, which actively compete with one another in marketing automation, have both made AI a core focus of their product development efforts. “Adobe’s strength is the ability to combine their expertise in design through creative cloud, analytics, and Sensei for marketers to create and launch content experiences quickly,” Zhou said.

With reporting from Robert Hof

Image: Adobe