23rd May 2023 – (California) Adobe Inc announced on Tuesday that it is adding artificial intelligence (AI) technology for generating imagery into its flagship software for editing images, Photoshop. The San Jose-based company said that this marks the beginning of a major push to add such AI technologies to its suite of programs aimed at creative professionals.
One new feature that Adobe is adding to Photoshop is called “Generative Fill,” which will allow users to extend an original image that was cropped in too closely with computer-generated content, or add features based on a text description. The feature can, for example, take a picture of a single flower and turn it into a field of flowers with a mountain range behind it.
Adobe has been testing the AI technology for about six weeks on a standalone website and has addressed legal questions around the data used to develop the systems with a core technology system it calls Firefly, which was specifically created with legal-to-use image data and can be used in commercial settings.
Ely Greenfield, Chief Technology Officer for digital media at Adobe, said that the intention of the tool is not to replace graphic artists but to make it faster for them to create new images out of multiple ideas. The new feature will dramatically accelerate production work, allowing creative professionals to spend less time searching photo archives and stitching together pieces of existing images by hand.