Adobe Firefly AI explained: New app could change content creation forever

Adobe Firefly is a new generative AI application, that plans to integrate with the entire Adobe Suite, including Photoshop and Illustrator. Here’s what the company has in store.

Firefly, Adobe’s new AI application has hit its beta, and the goals for its incoming additions are lofty. Aside from being an image generator like DALL-E or Midjourney, Adobe wants to begin integrating these new tools into its software.

This means using AI to generate brushes for Photoshop, or vectors for Illustrator. While not in beta right now, Adobe also plans to integrate this into its video editor, Premiere, using the example of changing a sunny field into a winter’s day.

A lot of Adobe Firefly is built using Adobe Stock, its stock images, and video business. You can clearly tell where the source is coming from, as content creators who have been through the many images before will notice some recognizable faces.

Do you need an Adobe subscription for Firefly?

During the beta, you don’t need an Adobe subscription to sign up. However, once the company is done with testing, it should be anticipated that it is locked behind a paid service.

It’s also not really known if Firefly will remain its own app, or be integrated into the other services. Adobe’s current AI fare like Neural Filters is kept behind Photoshop and its subscription fee.

We’re assuming that subscription holders will be given priority access.

What can Firefly do right now?

At the moment Firefly can provide you with a text-to-image generator, as well as a Text Effects creator. None of these will output to a Photoshop or Illustrator file just yet but will save to a watermarked image. Adobe plans to add a vector recolor feature soon.

Is Adobe using customer art and photos for training the AI?

According to Adobe, they’re not accessing any files you would create to train Firefly. However, this could change once it launches to a wider audience. Though, with the sheer amount of content available on Adobe Stock, it doesn’t seem like they plan to do so any time soon.

AI and Adobe

AI isn’t a new thing to Adobe. The company has been implementing variations and early machine learning tech or algorithms into the whole suite of programs since late 2015. Adobe’s most popular use is its “Content-Aware” tools in Photoshop and After Effects.

Content-Aware allows creators to highlight a specific section and using various behind-the-scenes tools, like Adobe Sensei, are able to extrapolate and integrate a newly generated section to the image at hand.

For instance, if a tree is in the way of a shot, you can simply erase it and the background will be formed from the different parts around it. In After Effects, this can be applied to video as well.

The company plans to integrate Firefly into the full suite available, with no real timeline of when or how this will happen. As Firefly is currently in a limited beta, we have had a chance to see how it is in action.

The beta is also hindered by these limitations, as we can’t export or upload video content, nor can it be used to “edit or iterate on your own artwork”, which is a big feature advertised on the page.

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