HigherEd AI Daily: Dec 26 – Photoshop in ChatGPT, Google Mixboard, and Nvidia’s $20B Groq Acquisition

Adobe Photoshop Integration in ChatGPT — Go to source

Google Mixboard Design Tool Launch — Go to source

Nvidia Acquires Groq for $20 Billion — Go to source

AI World Models Transform Game Development — Go to source

Adobe launched a watershed moment in creative technology this week. Photoshop, the industry standard for image editing, is now directly accessible through ChatGPT. This isn’t a limited version or a stripped-down tool. It’s Adobe’s full adjustment and effects engine, embedded directly in the chat interface.

Here’s what changed: students no longer need to own Photoshop subscriptions. They no longer need to learn desktop software interfaces. They can now tell ChatGPT what they want to do with an image using natural language. Remove the background. Adjust exposure. Add effects. Blur distracting elements. All through conversation. Adobe also integrated Express for quick design work and Acrobat for PDF manipulation, but Photoshop is the game-changer for visual instruction.

The pedagogical shift matters here. For decades, teaching visual literacy meant teaching tools. Students learned Photoshop syntax, menu structures, keyboard shortcuts. Now students can focus on visual thinking and creative intention instead. They describe what they want to achieve, and AI handles tool complexity. This is fundamentally different from previous tool integration because it removes the expertise barrier.

Institutions teaching design, photography, marketing, communications, and even STEM fields with visual components should be thinking now about how this changes their courses. Do you need Photoshop labs? Do you teach the tool or the thinking behind it? How do you assess creative work when the technical execution is delegated to AI?

Google launched Mixboard this week as a collaborative design canvas combining Pinterest’s curation model, Canva’s design capabilities, and generative AI. The tool lets teams turn ideas into mockups and brand boards within 30 minutes instead of days. For print-on-demand designers and brand teams, this is efficiency. For educators, this is a different story.

In higher education, Mixboard becomes relevant for any course involving visual communication, branding, or design thinking. Students can rapidly prototype multiple design directions. They can collaborate on brand boards without needing expensive subscriptions. They can see their ideas rendered professionally in real time. This matters for marketing programs, communication departments, graphic design courses, and even business school strategy work where visual thinking is central.

Nvidia spent $20 billion this week acquiring Groq, an AI chip startup that specializes in inference chips (the hardware that runs trained models rather than training them). This is strategic consolidation. Nvidia already dominates AI chip manufacturing. This acquisition eliminates a potential competitor while securing specialized inference technology that will power the next generation of AI applications.

For higher education, this matters indirectly but importantly. As universities invest in AI infrastructure, the cost and availability of computational resources matter. Nvidia is signaling that inference optimization is critical to AI’s future. This means faster, cheaper AI applications for end users. It means universities can run more sophisticated models on campus. It means the tools students access get more capable and more responsive.

AI World Models Transform Game Development. Studios report 4x faster development speeds using AI tools that generate playable 3D environments from text descriptions. For simulation-based learning and educational game development, this is significant. Students can create complex interactive scenarios without years of game engine expertise.

NotebookLM Gains Slide Deck Export. Google’s research tool now generates presentation slides from source materials. For literature reviews, research synthesis, and study materials, this expands what NotebookLM can do beyond audio and data tables.

Gemini 3 Pro and Nano Models Expand. Google’s latest model lineup includes both advanced reasoning (Gemini 3 Pro) and efficient inference (Nano models). More choices mean different use cases get optimized solutions.