AI is becoming ever-present with businesses utilizing these digital tools to create written content and improve business processes. However, AI images are also becoming more common. In fact, you likely see 2-3 AI-created images every day, whether on social media, television, or in a magazine. Some of these artificially created images are easy to spot, whereas others are clearly digitally created. Below we look at the four best AI image creation tools your business should consider utilizing.
This AI image creation tool is easy to use and can produce great results with the right prompts. DALL-E 2 is likely the most popular AI image generator and is responsible for several viral images. Simply type in a defined prompt, click ‘generate’ and DALL-E 2 will give you four AI images to choose from. In addition to the basic creation feature, users can use the image editor to expand on an image (AI or uploaded). This technique is known as out-painting and allows you to create larger pieces of AI artwork. Finally, users can use a technique called in-painting which allows you to remove parts of an image and replace them with AI elements.
DALL-E 2 is available as a web app and also has an API that allows developers to integrate the AI image creator into other apps. Pricing starts at $15 for 115 image credits for creation and editing use. API pricing starts at $0.016 per image.
This AI image creation tool consistently produces realistic-looking images. However, as a Discord-based tool, all images created are public by default. This means that while you can use them for advertising, branding, and content, you do not own them. Simply join the Midjourney Discord server to gain access and enter a prompt by using /imagine [prompt]. The AI creation tool will then generate four images that you can download, edit, or scale. By default, each prompt is published on the discord server with the generated images. The MidJourney Help Document explains how to use the tool to get the best results and how to use advanced features like image blending and upscaling. The basic plan starts at $10 per month for 3.3 hours of GPU use or around 200 images. Further GPU use can also be purchased and all images come with commercial usage rights.
Stable Diffusion is an open-source AI image creation tool. This allows anyone with the technical knowledge the ability to download it and run it locally on their computer. Furthermore, this allows users to train the AI to suit their specific needs. For those without the necessary technical knowledge, users can use Stable Diffusion through the DreamStudio app. The DreamStudio app is easy to use and comes with more filtering options than most other AI image creation tools. Simply type in your image prompt, then select how large you want the image to be, how many diffusion steps to take, and whether you want to use a seed to repeat the results. The AI tool will then generate 4 images for you to choose from, or edit further.
Additional features of Stable Diffusion include the ability to in-paint and out-paint, though you must use Chrome to access them. Pricing starts at $10 for 1000 credits or around 4000 images using the default settings. Users also get a free 25 credits when they first sign up.
Adobe has been utilizing AI tools in its apps for over a decade, however, Firefly is the first completely AI-based tool they offer. Like the other AI image creation tools on our list, users simply type in their prompt and get an image in return. Firefly can also recolor vector artwork, add AI elements to images and create special text effects. The best feature, however, is the Generative Fill feature integrated with Photoshop. This tool allows you to select an area of an image, then type a prompt to replace it with an AI image or element. Most impressively, the AI tool understands the composition and context of the original image to create seamless results. This is great for changing backgrounds, or adding extra details to an image. It is important to note that currently, as Firefly is in Beta testing, images cannot be used commercially. Users can test the free Beta version online, or use all features with a Photoshop and Creative Cloud Adobe plan.
In addition to these, Magai (which we covered in a prior post) recently also added image creation within its tools as well.
Which of these AI image creation tools will you be testing first? Each AI tool has its strengths, so it is worth testing each of them to see which is best for your business needs.
