Adobe teases a new ‘revolutionary’ AI photo editing tool

Adobe is set to unveil a new AI-powered photo editing tool at the Adobe Max event, promising to make image manipulation much easier for users without prior editing experience. The tool, known as Project Stardust, features an “object-aware editing engine” that automatically identifies individual objects in regular photographs, allowing them to be easily moved and changed.

Similar to Google’s Magic Editor for its new Pixel phones, Project Stardust is expected to be even more powerful. The software automatically selects and separates objects in a photograph, as if they had been isolated using Photoshop’s lasso tool. Users can then manipulate these objects by moving, deleting, or making other alterations, with the missing space behind them automatically filled in to match the rest of the image.

Additionally, Project Stardust includes a feature called the “Contextual Task Bar,” which debuted earlier this year in Photoshop. This tool can detect the next steps in a design process and offer quick editing options. In a demonstration video, selecting a crowd of blurred people in the background prompts a “remove distractors” button to appear on the taskbar, allowing users to delete the crowd with a single click.

The new editing engine is equipped with generative AI capabilities, similar to Adobe’s Firefly-powered Photoshop tools. In the video, project manager Aya Philémon showcases the ability to select an area of a photograph and use a floating taskbar prompt to fill that space with AI-generated flowers. Another clip demonstrates how the same feature can be used to replace individual items of clothing on a model by selecting the item and describing the new piece of clothing to be added.

Automated design tools like these are becoming more common as AI technology advances. Canva and Google Photos also offer similar editing tools for automatically altering or removing objects in images. However, details about Project Stardust are currently limited, with Philémon stating that the features shown so far are just a fraction of what the tool can do. She promises that the new editing engine will revolutionize the way users interact with Adobe products.

More information about Adobe’s upcoming AI releases and Project Stardust will be revealed at the Adobe Max event, which starts on October 10th. With the launch of this new photo editing tool, Adobe aims to empower users with intuitive and powerful AI capabilities, making image manipulation more accessible than ever before.