A Simple Guide to Everything You Need to Know About AI ArtYou can’t go around any metaphorical corner these days without stumbling upon a piece of AI-generated art or two. Even big companies like Adobe and Getty have been forced to embrace AI to stay competitive. But for many, it’s all still a mystery.
How exactly does it all work?
Back in 2022, the first mainstream AI application to rock the world was the creation of images using AI and text prompts. From those humble beginnings, the market has now grown into a massive empire, from hobbyist tools running on home computers to enterprise-grade design products used everywhere from Hollywood to Paris fashion houses. And that growth shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. According to Market.us, the generative AI art market is expected to be worth around $40 billion by 2033, up from $3.2 billion in 2023. That’s an astonishing growth rate by any standard.
But how exactly is AI able to create beautiful artwork or photorealistic photos simply by typing text into a chat box?
Behind the Scenes of Generative AI First, let’s dispel a huge myth. Generative AI art models don’t store billions of photos or artworks from around the world in a giant database. This is simply wrong. Instead, these systems are trained on a global library of images, just like an art student learns about the works of Van Gogh, Warhol, or Rembrandt in detail during their studies.
This training gives the model a basic understanding of how different art forms are created, such as light, brushstrokes, perspective, and so on. This of course applies to photos as well as other aspects of design and imagery. This training is the basis for it to generate images on demand. It does this through a process called “diffusion.” Given a photo of a house, the AI model breaks it down into millions of data points that represent the edges, curves, textures, and everything else that makes up the image. These digital bits are stored in giant data centers for later use.
When a user later launches the AI app and types in “draw me a house,” the system searches its massive database and reconstructs the image of a house that it understands based on the training results. The reconstruction process is as follows: starting with a completely cluttered image, it keeps removing noise until it ends up with an image.
This is not too dissimilar to the process by which a sculptor reveals the final sculpture by chiseling at a block of marble until their idea emerges. Much of the public confusion about AI “stealing art” stems from a misunderstanding of how this process works. An AI can reproduce any style it’s trained on, just as an art student can reproduce a Warhol piece by following its rules of color, composition, and perspective.
But just like the student, an AI image generator almost always uses all the knowledge it’s trained on to create innovative, original images.
While it can create works that mimic existing art, the law is clear that you can’t copyright a style, only the exact work that the artist created.
These questions and more are now being worked through legal systems around the world as we all begin to realize that AI systems can replicate almost anything in an instant.
What are the bestAI art generators right now? GPT-Image-1
The undisputed champion of all image generation systems right now is OpenAI’s GPT-Image-1 offering. Launched in late April of this year, this amazing AI model combines two absolutely amazing features. First, it exhibits incredibly fast execution, meaning it will output exactly what you type into the text box.
The second, and perhaps more important, feature is impeccable text handling. Until now, reproducing text in AI images has been very difficult (and, in fact, even more unpredictable). GPT-Image-1 has revolutionized this dilemma, with an astounding 99% hit rate for accurately generating the desired text.
On the Journey
Midjourney is a veteran in the field of AI image generators, and one of the first to consistently deliver excellent image quality. Such consistency made it almost an industry standard for many art and design professionals.
However, over time, it has lost its influence, although a recent upgrade to version 7 has firmly put it back on the list of all-time greats. Freepik
Freepik is one of the relatively newcomers in the field of AI image generation, and I personally love it. It is based on the powerful Flux AI image model and does an excellent job of meeting your image and text needs.
In a recent test I conducted for Tom’s Guide, it surprisingly beat a heavyweight competitor. The Mystic 2.5 flexible model in the service performed very well and produced some stunning images on demand.
The benchmark image generation is supported by a range of powerful and useful tools, including best-in-class editing features and an excellent product mockup generator. The sketch function also provides an innovative way to customize your image creation vision in real time.
Check out our constantly updated list of the top AI image generators for more great services.
Can I make AI art for free? Not all AI image generators cost money. There are now a growing number of free and open source alternatives that you can use on your home computer without signing up for an online cloud service.
The price you pay is that they usually require a fairly powerful computer to run and require some technical knowledge to install and run. Here are a few of my favorite options.
Krita
This free and open source art tool was born more than 20 years ago as an alternative to commercial products such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. It has dominated the powerful artist’s toolbox ever since. Recently, it added AI capabilities through a sophisticated plugin that is increasingly being integrated into the main product.
Krita’s appeal lies in its rich editing capabilities and intuitive AI features. It can also use local AI models stored on your computer, which is undoubtedly a boon for people who like to create on the go.
Pinokio
One of the best ways to experience a variety of free and open source image generation tools is to download and install Pinokio. This easy-to-use product brings together some of the world’s best open source AI products, including various image tools such as Stable Diffusion, Fooocus, Forge, and PhotoMaker2.
The best part? All the tools install in one click. As long as you have enough processing power and storage space, you can start using it.
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