Adobe Brings Even More Generative AI to Adobe Stock

Artificial intelligence is playing an increasing role across many genres of photography, but few feel the impact of AI more acutely than stock photography. Whether outright generating images or editing them with AI, Adobe has, unsurprisingly, fully embraced its Firefly AI technology within Adobe Stock.

Adobe’s latest AI-powered Stock enhancements aim to make it easier for customers to find the perfect content for their needs, and that means using Adobe Firefly Image Model 3, Adobe’s latest Firefly model, to augment existing Stock content.

Similarly to how Getty Images just added generative AI to its platforms to quickly remove backgrounds from product shots, making it easier for people to craft the optimal content for their needs, Adobe added new tools to change existing Stock assets to fit specific client demands.

Before licensing the image, all Stock customers can now perform a range of “Generative Edits” to Adobe Stock images, including photos and illustrations. These features were rolled out to business customers earlier this year but are now available to all.

Remove Background is a good choice for those looking to build a composite, as simply removing the background is all that is required. However, for some Stock customers, they don’t want a background; they require a different one altogether. Replace Background swaps with a new background, described via a text prompt.

Sometimes an image on Stock is nearly perfect, but it’s not the right size or aspect ratio for a particular application. Firefly also works here by allowing users to expand images to fit a new aspect ratio.

These Generative Edits rely heavily on existing assets, even if they include AI-generated pixels. Generative Variations takes the AI further, creating an all-new asset based on an existing reference image.

With Generate Variations, Stock customers can customize existing content to fit stylistic and compositional preferences with Firefly. For example, if someone likes the content of an image but it doesn’t fit the style of the rest of a brand’s identity or marketing campaign, they can use AI to apply a new style or aesthetic to the image.

Or perhaps someone likes the look of an image but wishes that the subject were somewhere else in the frame. Well, that’s possible to change, too, and like style variations, users change the composition with a descriptive text prompt.

If someone uses a contributor’s asset to generate a new output, whether that is something simple like swapping the background or something much more transformative like changing the style or composition — or generating an all-new asset inspired by an existing one — the original contributor is compensated.

“These new Generative Edits, and Generate Variations, tools are available to use on all Stock images. Contributors are compensated when their Stock image is used as a reference point, once the edited image resulting from the generated output is downloaded,” Adobe tells PetaPixel.

Further, like every other Adobe Stock asset, anything created or changed using AI is designed to be commercially safe and backed by IP indemnification (for eligible customers).

“As technology evolves and you look for new ways to amplify your work, Adobe will continue to develop AI responsibly,” the company promises. “We see AI as a tool to enhance and elevate your creative workflows, not to replace them.”

Stock and product photographers are rightfully worried about how AI will impact their ability to earn a living. On the one hand, if customers can adjust content to fit their needs using AI within Adobe Stock, and the original creator of the content is compensated, they may feel less need to use generative AI to make something from scratch. The ability for a client to swiftly change things about a photo, for example, means they are more likely to license an image that otherwise would not have met their needs.

On the other hand, if it’s easy to create something from scratch that doesn’t rely on existing assets at all, AI will hurt stock and product photographers.

One way or another, AI on platforms like Adobe Stock changes how people create, edit, and license content. It’s unclear precisely how it will impact the bottom line of photographers or if the impact will be evenly felt across the entire photo industry.

Image credits: Adobe