Adobe Inc (ADBE.O) said on Thursday it would offer Firefly, its artificial intelligence tool for generating images, to its large business customers, with financial indemnity for copyright challenges involving content made with the tools. The company is also introducing new generative AI services anchored in its Experience Platform that could allow businesses to quickly generate, edit and share standout social media posts and other visual content at scale.
Firefly lets users upload images, sketches, mood boards, or written descriptions, and then the technology creates designs that align with their creative vision. Users can tweak and adjust various design elements to further fine-tune it or create a completely different look. The system is integrated into Adobe Express, the all-in-one app that allows anyone to create and share standout social media posts, videos, images, PDFs, and flyers.
The new indemnity will be offered at no additional cost to Adobe customers with an enterprise version of the Firefly software, which will be available starting in late 2022. Adobe aims to make Firefly available to more organizations as the company seeks to address surging demand for digital content, which it says businesses need to improve engagement and drive sales.
Adobe is attempting to set Firefly apart from rival offerings from companies such as Stability AI and Midjourney, which can generate imagery from just a few words of text. While those platforms produce high-quality images, they may need more creativity and uniqueness. Adobe’s focus on a streamlined user interface could attract professionals seeking efficiency in their workflow and ease of use.
For instance, the software will be able to recognize objects in photos and convert them into vector graphics, which can be edited and altered or turn them into a 3D object. It will also detect objects in videos, change their color and tone, and create or alter background scenes. Adobe is also leveraging its decades of world-class creative technology to deliver new generative AI features across its suite of products.
While Adobe’s new offerings appear to address some concerns from the anti-AI community, risks remain. Because Firefly is expected to be integrated into the Creative Cloud suite, which operates on a subscription model, it may take revenue away from artists who contribute images to Adobe Stock. The company could mitigate the impact by exploring compensation models that provide a level playing field for artists as the landscape of stock images changes.
Adobe has long been using AI to improve its existing tools’ productivity, such as recognizing human subjects in Lightroom photos or transcribing speech in Premiere Pro video editing. The company has used its Sensei brand to power technologies such as EbSynth for applying a photo’s style to video, HueMint for creating color palettes, and LeiaPix for converting 2D images into 3D objects. Its new generative AI tools add more capabilities and further broaden its appeal in the industry.
