The maker of the mobile photo editing app Lightricks is jumping on the AI-generated art wagon with its new “Text to Image” generator in its apps, including Photoleap, which is known for its photo editing capabilities, and Motionleap, an app that can edit a still image. animate photo to make it look like it’s in motion. Starting today, users can now create AI-generated images via text prompts to share with their friends and social media followers.
The new feature is the latest AI development for Lightricks, whose flagship Facetune app is used by many Instagram models to retouch their selfies and alter waistlines. The Israel-based startup is known for using artificial intelligence technology to power a range of creative expression tools. Other products include apps such as Videoleap, Filtertune, Beatleap, Artleap, Lightleap, and Boosted.
With the new “Text to Image” feature, Lightricks applies technology that allows users to not only edit photos or videos, but also create art by leveraging AI capabilities. A similar feature was recently introduced in TikTok’s mobile app to create video backgrounds.
To use the new feature, click on “Generate AI image” at the top of the app and a text box will appear where you can type what came out of your wildest dreams (within reason, as the app doesn’t allow NSFW content) . You can also start with prewritten clues, such as “a purple fox, from Van Gogh” or “singing poodle k pop album cover.”
After creating the AI image, users can access the editing and animation tools. Photoleap offers tools such as layering, filters, quick art, cut-out tools and more. Motionleap has animation tools, a 3D motion tool, as well as overlays and other effects.
In comparison, other AI art apps like Dream by WOMBO not allow users to edit photos.
Image Credits: lightricks
The company explains that the underlying AI integrated into Lightricks’ apps is based on open source code released by Stable Diffusion, a DALL-E 2-like system recently launched publicly.
To use the new feature, a user enters a prompt and images are taken from millions of images across the web from publicly available websites.
“Text to Image” is free to use and users can download as many of their AI image creations as they want. The user owns every image created with the generator, Lightricks says. If you sign up for a Pro membership, you can download up to 100 “higher quality” files per month. The subscription ranges from $4.99 per month with an annual subscription to $9.99 per month with a monthly subscription.
“AI technology has proven its powerful capabilities when it comes to content creation. Implementing the Text to Image feature directly into our apps opens up a whole realm of possibilities for our users, giving them limitless possibilities for creating incredible content,” said Zeev Farbman, CEO and co-founder of Lightricks , in a statement. “This new tool supports our mission to help users enjoy the magic of creating and inspiring a new generation of content creators.”
AI-generated art, if used ethically, can be a great resource for creators who lack the artistic skills to physically create their ideas.
Here’s an example of what we came up with when we tested the feature ourselves:
Image Credits: Lauren Forristal/Photoleap
Notice how Nicole Kidman’s face has changed and looks downright terrifying. This is done to avoid copyright claims. According to Lightricks, the terms of use do not allow copyright infringement. A photo of a celebrity owned by people from the internet may be copyrighted, but not artwork created by artificial intelligence. The “likeness” of a celebrity is not copyrighted.
Unlike the more advanced DALL-E and Google Imagen systems, Lightricks’ basic text-to-image generator doesn’t produce photo-realistic results, similar to the ambiguous backgrounds created by TikTok’s new AI greenscreen feature.
NSFW content poses a risk to AI art-generating systems, but Lightricks uses Google Cloud Vision API to prevent users from requesting NSFW content. When we tested the image-to-text feature on Photoleap, some text prompts resulted in images of mostly naked, distorted female avatars, but nothing explicit that could be considered pornographic.
We also typed in “Vladimir Putin striptease” purely for educational purposes. Fortunately, the AI generator on Photoleap saved our eyes from burning and generated an artistic image of Putin wearing a suit and tie.
So if you’re looking for something light and fun to mess around with, try Photoleap and Motionleap. Just don’t be weird about it.
Photoleap is only available on iOS devices while Motionleap is on iOS and Android devices. Together, Photoleap and Motionleap have been downloaded more than 170 million times.