Photoshop will get an extensive AI image-generating tool later this year, Adobe revealed on Tuesday.

Adobe is trying to stay competitive with businesses like Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Midjourney, and Stability AI. By creating images from text prompts, these rivals challenge Adobe's dominance in picture and video editing tools used by creative professionals.

Adobe developed Firefly, an image-generation AI system, in response to competition. Adobe-owned data serves as the training data for this technology, aiming to minimize accusations of copyright infringement against users.

Adobe announced comprehensive picture production capabilities at a London conference on Tuesday, building on Photoshop's image-filling and enlargement features. According to CNA, this feature will be powered by Firefly Image 3 coming later this year.

(Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) 

A sign is displayed on the exterior of an Adobe office on December 13, 2023 in San Francisco, California.

Firefly Image 3 Can Generate Photorealistic Images

Adobe's new image-generation tool will generate an image's composition using a user's submitted image, demonstrating its commitment to improving professionals' productivity. The tech firm claims exceptional "photorealistic quality" with better lighting, placement, and detail in the new Firefly model. This advances picture-generating technologies significantly, per The Verge.

Firefly Image 3 gets better at comprehending long, detailed text cues. It also produces crisper lettering in photos than the previous Firefly model.

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Adobe hopes these updates will boost consumers' creativity and image quality. The global beta release allows anyone worldwide to use Firefly Image 3 outside of Photoshop.

Adobe Chief Technology Officer for Digital Media, Ely Greenfield, said, "Borrowing from the reference saves me from having to carefully describe what goes where and make sure I'm specifying what I want and don't. So this is quite strong."

Adobe said on Tuesday that a test "beta" version of the new Firefly is available to select users but did not indicate a public release date.

Adobe Defends Firefly from Criticisms 

The core models of generative AI, according to artists, authors, and creative professionals, are trained on copyrighted media without authorization or payment. In response, generative AI businesses are in legal conflict with many artists and authors.

Adobe asserts that it trained Firefly, its latest AI project, on commercially designed Adobe Stock imagery, setting it apart from its competitors, as reported by Engadget. This sets it apart from Midjourney, whose models purportedly use internet-scraped images. A spokesperson of the firm confirmed that Firefly used AI-generated photos from competitors like Midjourney, but only less than 5% of its training data.

Adobe proactively addressed concerns about the use of generative AI to spread misinformation. Photoshop generates tamper-proof "Content Credentials" in metadata for every generative AI-generated picture. This labeling system, akin to digital "nutrition labels," signifies the AI-generated nature of the image.

Despite the program's efforts to enhance transparency, content exploitation remains possible due to the circumvention of metadata and watermarks.

These new Photoshop capabilities, which improve AI-generated content transparency and accountability, will be available in beta today and fully rolled out later this year. Adobe's website now offers free Firefly Image 3 trials.

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