Adobe Integrates Firefly, Generative AI-Based Art Model, Into Photoshop

There has been a slew of news of late about how the rise of generative artificial intelligence and AI-enabled image editing tools might make Photoshop a thing of the past. Some said that Photoshop’s days are numbered, others claimed that the software is no longer relevant for most people, while some even announced “the death of Photoshop”.

Turns out, Adobe might have turned over a new leaf for its more than 30-year-old flagship image editing software, customising it for the AI age.

Adobe has unveiled Generative Fill in Photoshop, integrating Firefly—the company’s generative AI-based art generator—directly into Photoshop. One of the first Creative Cloud applications to use Adobe Firefly, Generative Fill in Photoshop will allow users to add objects to photos, remove items, and extend the size of content on images by using a text-to-image prompt. The new content in an image is created on generative layers, allowing rapid, creative iteration without impacting the original image.

Which means Photoshop users can now, for example, add a car to a deserted terrain, turn a landscape picture to a portrait by making elements vanish, add puddles to a picture of their child playing, or even add rainbow-coloured hair to a dachshund by typing a command on a text bar. The text-to-image prompt requires users to enter simple text descriptions in natural language to generate the desired image. Generative AI does the rest.

Although these features are available in various AI image generation tools—such as DALL-E and Midjourney—integration into Photoshop means they would be readily accessible for a wider set of users. Presently, Adobe has launched Generative Fill in beta, and the company said the feature will see a full release in Photoshop later this year.

The Generative Fill in Photoshop is the start of the company’s initiative to integrate generative AI into existing creative workflows across Creative Cloud, giving users a creative co-pilot to accelerate ideation, exploration, and production, the company said in a statement on its website.

Generative AI integration into workflows across Document Cloud, Experience Cloud, and Adobe Express are also part of the company’s roadmap for the future.

Adobe had in March launched the beta version of Firefly, a family of creative generative AI models, allowing users to generate new content by using a text prompt and everyday language.

David Wadhwani, president, Digital Media Business, Adobe, had said that with Firefly, “Adobe will bring generative AI-powered ‘creative ingredients’ directly into customers’ workflows, increasing productivity and creative expression for all creators from high-end creative professionals to the long tail of the creator economy.”

Firefly’s integration into Photoshop will extend the generative AI offering, allowing users to easily and quickly create images, design new templates, and edit pictures.

Adobe has said that Firefly is designed to produce images safe for commercial use, is trained on Adobe Stock’s collection of millions of licensed images, and will not generate content based on people’s and brands’ intellectual properties.

The Generative Fill will also be available as a new module in the Firefly beta for users who wish to test and experiment its new capabilities on the web.

The company also introduced new innovations in Photoshop to enhance and accelerate creative workflows. These include new adjustment presets, contextual task bar, remove tool, and enhanced gradients, allowing users to undertake complex edits and create unique designs while saving time.