Adobe adds generative AI editing to Photoshop | Engadget

As generative AI has taken the tech world by storm, it was only a matter of time before Photoshop got in on the action. Adobe announced today that a new Generative Fill feature is coming to its ubiquitous photo-editing software later this year. The company promises “a magical new way to work” as the Firefly-powered feature lets you add, remove and extend visual content based on natural-language text prompts. “Generative Fill combines the speed and ease of generative AI with the power and precision of Photoshop, empowering customers to bring their visions to life at the speed of their imaginations,” said Ashley Still, Adobe’s senior VP of Digital Media.

Adobe’s Generative Fill is equivalent to DALL-E 2’s inpainting (generating AI content within a section of an image) and outpainting (AI-generated content extending beyond the image’s borders). So, for example, if you want to inpaint the sky to look surreal in a photo you took, select that area and type something like “surreal sky with strange colors” into the prompt field. Or, if you took a picture that you wish had a wider aspect ratio, you can select the area outside of it and prompt it to extend the scene.

Adobe says the feature matches the original scene’s perspective, lighting and style, allowing you to alter images radically with minimal legwork. The company provided a marketing video showing three AI-generated results to choose from for each text prompt.

To try to help separate its AI work from the pack on an ethical level, the company says its current-generation model only learns from Adobe Stock images and “other public domain content without copyright restrictions.” In addition, as part of Adobe’s Content Credentials initiative, AI images made in Photoshop will be encoded with an invisible digital signature indicating whether it’s human-made or the product of AI. As generative AI makes it increasingly difficult to separate the organic from the algorithmic — and as artists worry about their work being plagiarized by career-killing machines — Adobe’s more transparent approach is refreshing.

Generative Fill will be available in the Photoshop desktop beta starting today. Adobe adds that the feature will be “generally available in the second half of 2023.” Finally, Generative Fill is also available today on the web as a module in the (invite-only) Firefly beta.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.