Adobe tests generative AI tools in its Indigo camera app
Project Indigo’s AI Playground adds generative styles, object edits and photo feedback while Adobe tests demand among a small user group.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
2 min read
Adobe is adding generative AI editing tools to Project Indigo, its experimental iPhone camera app, according to an Adobe announcement by fellow Marc Levoy. The test matters because Indigo was introduced around a different promise: giving phone photos a more natural, SLR-like appearance.
The new feature set is called AI Playground and arrives with version 1.1 of the app, Adobe said. It brings generative filters, object-editing tools, photo guidance and custom edits into an app that had been framed mainly around camera capture and image quality.
Adobe is calling the rollout an experiment. Levoy said the company is making the tools available free, without requiring users to sign in, to a small share of Indigo users over the next few weeks.
Users who do not want the AI features can opt out with a button and keep using Indigo as they did before, according to Adobe. Levoy said Adobe wants to see how people use generative AI editing before deciding whether to widen the test, extend it or run related experiments.
If the tools find an audience, Adobe plans to offer a paid version eventually, Levoy said.
What AI Playground includes
Adobe said AI Playground is divided into four areas: Styles, Object Editing, Photo Guidance and Custom Edit. Levoy said each area uses buttons or toggles tied to prompts that Adobe has built for those specific tasks.
The system can return different results when a user taps the same control again, according to Levoy. That makes the feature set less like a fixed filter menu and more like a guided generative editing interface.
Styles applies AI-generated effects to photos taken with Indigo, according to Adobe. The examples described by Adobe include making a photo resemble an illustration and changing lighting effects.
Object Editing is presented as a tool for changing parts of a photo, including object removal, according to Adobe’s description of the update. Photo Guidance adds feedback through a chatbot-style feature, while Custom Edit is listed as another section of the AI Playground suite.
The AI tools do not rely on Adobe’s Firefly models, according to The Verge. Adobe has positioned Firefly as its main family of generative AI models across several creative products, but Indigo’s experiment uses other technology.
Project Indigo launched last year as an effort to give iPhone images a more natural look, Adobe said at the time. The AI Playground update moves the app into the larger debate over how much computational editing can be added to phone photography before the result becomes something other than a conventional photo.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.