Adobe Firefly is Here, It's Free, It's in Photoshop and Illustrator, and Has an Early Midjouney Feel

Source: Synthedia via Adobe Firefly

Adobe Firefly is now generally avaialble through the web and integrated into Adobe Express, Photoshop, and Illustrator. You can also check it out for free on the web. Adobe collaborated with NVIDIA to develop the generative AI models powering Firefly.

Firefly is a collection of text-to-image generative AI models that Adobe says created over two billion images during the recent beta period. It is a standalone web app and a feature inside of some of Adobe’s leading products. You can use it similar to Midjourney to create new images or to modify existing images with new lighting, backgrounds, scenes, and objects.

Use it for Free

Creative Cloud subscribers will be able to use Firefly AI features for no extra charge, though there will be a monthly limit on use beginning in November. After hitting the quota, users can still access it for free, but image generation may take longer. Use is unlimited until November 1st. Ely Greenfield, chief technology officer at Adobe, told the Financial Times that (N.B. paywall):

Not charging extra for generative AI was the best way to get the technology “into as many of our customers’ hands as possible” … Adobe’s trial of its image-generating AI showed that it increased customer retention and encouraged more people to try its services, Greenfield said.

While there will be no extra charge for generative AI specifically, Adobe plans to raise subscription software prices by about 10% later this year. The company says the move is not directly related to higher costs from offering generative AI features.

Even free users get image generation access, though they have a much more limited quota. Once they reach the monthly limit, they must wait until the next month unless they can pay for additional image creation access as a paid user.

Taking on Midjourney and Canva

Text-to-image AI applications have cropped up as standalone solutions (e.g., Midjourney and Stability AI) and as features for popular creative design software solutions (e.g., Canva and Picsart). Adobe is in the latter category, and it also now has a direct Midjourney competitor through its Firefly web app.

Adobe doesn’t really compete with Midjourney since the latter does not offer a professional design software suite. However, the company also would prefer to be the tool employed for as much of the design cycle as practical. Midjourney is popular and is unlikely to disappear. Adobe expects that some of the image generation tasks done today on Midjourney and its main competitors will shift to designer tools out of convenience initially, and maybe due to higher quality over time.

Canva and Picsart represent more significant direct competitors to Adobe. Both companies have over 100 million users and began offering free AI-powered image generation features in 2022. Incorporating Firefly into the existing design suite makes it more convenient for users if they need a quick image, inspiration, or to augment an existing image for a project.

Generative AI is proliferating rapidly into software solutions.