Adobe Adds AI Tools to its Stock Photography Business

Figurines are seen in front of the Adobe logo in this illustration taken June 13, 2022. (Reuters)
Figurines are seen in front of the Adobe logo in this illustration taken June 13, 2022. (Reuters)
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Adobe Adds AI Tools to its Stock Photography Business

Figurines are seen in front of the Adobe logo in this illustration taken June 13, 2022. (Reuters)
Figurines are seen in front of the Adobe logo in this illustration taken June 13, 2022. (Reuters)

Adobe on Tuesday added software tools that let its customers use artificial intelligence to create images based on its library of stock images, while still paying the original creators of those images.

Adobe, the company behind tools such as Photoshop that are widely used in the content creation business, has been rushing to add AI tools to its software as it faces image generation technology from newer firms such as OpenAI. Adobe's strategy has been to ensure that content it generates is legally safe to use in commercial work and to compensate artists, Reuters reported

The tools released Tuesday let customers start with a stock image from Adobe's collection then modify it with AI to meet their needs. The creator of the original image is compensated as if their unmodified original image was used.

Matthew Smith, vice president at Adobe for strategy, design and emerging products, said that while some Adobe users like to generate images from text prompts, many customers want conventional stock imagery modified a bit for their specific purpose.

"A majority of people still have a blank canvas problem," Smith told Reuters. "Generative AI is not replacing stock (imagery). It's not replacing creatives or contributors. It's enhancing and giving them more potential opportunity to increase their earnings."



OpenAI to Raise $40 Billion to Boost AI Efforts

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)
A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)
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OpenAI to Raise $40 Billion to Boost AI Efforts

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)
A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed OpenAI logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)

OpenAI said on Monday it would raise $40 billion in a new funding round led by SoftBank Group at a $300 billion valuation to advance AI research, expand computational infrastructure and enhance its tools.

SoftBank would provide 75% of the funding, according to a person familiar with the matter, with the remainder coming from Microsoft, Coatue Management, Altimeter Capital and Thrive Capital.

OpenAI said it looks to deliver increasingly powerful tools for the 500 million people who use ChatGPT every week.

Investor enthusiasm for the artificial intelligence sector has surged significantly in recent years, driven by widespread adoption of chatbots and the emergence of sophisticated AI agents.

Enterprises have integrated AI solutions to streamline their operations and enhance customer experiences, while venture capital firms compete to back promising AI startups.

San Francisco-based OpenAI had closed a $6.6 billion funding round in October, which valued the company at $157 billion. The new funding round would nearly double the valuation of the AI startup.

"OpenAI has very ambitious plans on many fronts and needs a lot of capital to achieve these goals," D.A. Davidson & Co analyst Gil Luria said.

"The list of investors wanting to support that scope has shrunk and may be largely limited to SoftBank, which itself may not have the necessary capital."

OpenAI is partnering with SoftBank and Oracle to establish a network of data centers under the $500-billion Stargate project, aimed at powering artificial intelligence workloads in the United States.

Microsoft-backed OpenAI also plans to revamp its structure, saying it would create a public benefit corporation to attract more investment and resources while balancing shareholder interests with public benefits.

OpenAI must transition to a for-profit company by the end of the year to secure the full $40 billion funding led by SoftBank, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

With the latest funding, OpenAI will join the ranks of the most valuable private companies, such as SpaceX, China's ByteDance and Stripe.