New Adobe AI Tools Permit Users to Use Text to Create, Edit Photos

New Adobe¹ AI Tools Permit Users to Use Text to Create, Edit Photos

Adobe has become the latest technology company to offer artificial intelligence (AI) tools among its products.

The tools belong to a group of systems known as "generative AI." Such tools use algorithms to train AI systems on huge amounts of data to produce human-quality results.

One of the most highly publicized generative AI tools is called ChatGPT. The system received wide media attention last year after being launched by the company OpenAI. When launched, ChatGPT demonstrated the ability to quickly produce human-quality written documents.

In recent weeks, several major American technology companies – including Google and Microsoft – announced plans to add ChatGPT-like systems to their products.

Experts say such tools are expected in the future to bring major changes to many different industries and professions.

Adobe is a software company that creates products used for creating and publishing digital documents and internet content. Professional photographers and digital content producers have long used Adobe products – such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro² – to create high-quality pictures and documents.

Adobe recently announced the launch of its AI offerings, which the company described as a "family of creative generative AI models." It is calling the new system Firefly.

In announcing the service on its website, Adobe showed the result of an image created by the tool. The company explained that Firefly generated the image after receiving a brief description of text commands. In this case, the system was asked to produce a 3D version "of a paper dragon," in "studio style photography."

The colorful image generated by Firefly showed a city with buildings and roads that looked like origami – the Japanese art of folding paper into complex shapes.

Adobe said generative AI "lets people paint with text instead of pixels (or paint)." In business operations, the company says Firefly can help companies connect with users "through auto-generated texts, emails and content."

In its announcement, Adobe noted³ the company also recognizes that generative AI is only as good as the data it was trained on. Sometimes such systems can produce results that discriminate⁴ against some groups, including underrepresented communities and minorities.

In an attempt to limit such discrimination, or bias⁵, Adobe says its engineering team is continuously working to examine and test Firefly's algorithms. In addition, the company noted it makes it easy for any user to report system errors or discrimination.

Adobe also brought up the subject of copyrights, a major issue that has faced generative AI systems. Some companies have been criticized for training their algorithms on copyrighted material from the internet. Any materials generated by those algorithms could be violating legal copyright protections.

Adobe says the first version of its Firefly tool was trained only on its own huge image collection, as well as "openly licensed⁷ content" and internet content that is no longer copyrighted.

The company says the tool was developed in this way to give users "a competitive edge" when using Firefly to produce ethical⁸ materials that are free of copyrights.

In addition, Adobe said it created a system to permit photographers to request that their content not be used to train on its algorithms. Ely Greenfield, Adobe's chief technology officer, told Reuters news agency the company was "very interested" in making the Firefly tool "creator friendly."

Another major American technology company, Nvidia, also recently announced its own generative AI service, called Picasso. It is designed to generate images, video and 3D presentations from simple text descriptions. Nvidia makes hardware and software systems related to a series of computing⁹ activities.

Words in This Story

artificial intelligence – n. the development of computer systems that have the ability to perform work that normally requires human intelligence

algorithm – n. a set of steps that are followed in order to solve a mathematical problem or to complete a computer process

generative – adj. able to produce or create something

photographer – n. a person who takes a picture with a camera

studio – n. a room an artist works in, especially a painter or photographer

pixel – n. the smallest unit of an image on a television or computer screen

copyright – n. the legal right to control the production and selling of a book, play, movie, photograph, etc.

license⁶ – v. to give someone official permission to do or have something

ethical – adj. relating to what is right or wrong

1 adobe   

n.泥砖，土坯，美国Adobe公司

参考例句：

• They live in an adobe house.他们住在一间土坯屋里。
• Adobe bricks must drived dried completely before are used.土坯砖块使用前一定要完全干燥。

2 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

5 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

6 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

7 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

8 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

9 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。