Artificial intelligence tools now go further than just text generation — you can also create custom images for your social media and company’s blog or even generate assets for games. Several major tech companies, such as OpenAI and Adobe, have released their AI image generation tools that differ in functionality scope and result quality.
Let’s choose the best AI image generator for your business tasks by comparing some of the most popular tools: DALL·E 3, Adobe Firefly, Midjourney, and Leonardo AI.
DALL·E 3 for Conversational Prompts
DALL·E 3, seamlessly integrated into ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise accounts by OpenAI, distinguishes itself with exceptional attention to detail and nuanced image generation capabilities.
DALL·E 3 pros
Beyond the basic creation of images, DALL·E 3 offers unique features such as outpainting (extending an original image) and inpainting (editing an uploaded image).
Just like ChatGPT, DALL·E 3 is a pro at understanding and responding to informal, conversational prompts, allowing users to build intuitive interactions. Additionally, users benefit from the tool's ability to incorporate text into the generated images, for example, to make greeting cards or presentations.
What’s more, DALL·E 3 is an excellent tool for producing images with high detail. This AI image generation tool has a set of built-in ethical considerations, so users cannot request offensive or unethical images.
And here comes the best part: this AI image generator is available for free as a part of Microsoft Bing.
DALL·E 3 cons
DALL·E 3’s limitations include resolution constraints in the free version available in Microsoft Bing, impacting overall image quality.
Plus, it’s quite easy to recognize an image generated by DALL·E 3 unless you add style specifications. Images generated by DALL·E 3 often exhibit a recognizable, cartoonish style, limiting style diversity. So, most likely, your customers can tell your illustrations are generated with AI.
Moreover, strong censorship and content restrictions may impose constraints on creative freedom.
Cost: $20 monthly as a part of ChatGPT Plus or free in Microsoft Bing
Adobe Firefly for Complex Image Editing
Adobe Firefly is a web app that is also integrated into Adobe Creative Suite tools, like Photoshop and Illustrator. A perfect match for visual professionals who are already working with these programs for creating visual materials.
Adobe Firefly pros
Adobe Firefly’s main feature is precise text-to-image generation. Apart from this basic functionality, Firefly allows users to edit existing pictures or add more effects to the ones generated by AI. Among Firefly’s additional functionality, you might like
- Generative fill feature for background filling based on a prompt
- Image recoloring
- Inpainting
- Adding text and text effects like neon
- Text-to-vector generation, for example, for creating logos
The tool's integration into other Adobe applications, coupled with a simple interface, ensures a smooth user experience.
What’s more, Adobe Firefly stands out in high-quality stock photo generation, particularly in scenarios involving people.
Adobe Firefly cons
One notable drawback of Adobe Firefly is its distinctive "advertising" style due to its prioritization of a "safety-first" approach. This style clearly indicates that the images are AI-generated, impacting the tool's applicability in certain contexts. The creators of Firefly specifically built it to produce “AI-generated-looking” output so it would be clear to any user that the image is not human-made.
Plus, from our experience, Adobe has issues understanding prompts and often doesn’t depict what was requested. If you want to change an image, you need to write a new prompt from scratch, as you can’t edit the generated picture.
Unlike DALL·E 3, Adobe Firefly lacks the capability to understand conversational prompts, limiting its user interaction capabilities. Users need to write plain, direct prompts to get the desired result.
The tool operates under high censorship restrictions, potentially limiting creative freedom.
Additionally, Adobe Firefly employs a generative credits system, allowing users to generate only a limited number of images over a specified period, which is not ideal for those needing high volumes of pictures.
Cost: the first 25 credits are free, then $5 monthly for 100 credits
Midjourney for Early Adopters
Operating through Discord in its current beta version, Midjourney introduces a distinctive approach to AI image generation with its vivid and creative images.
Midjourney pros
Midjourney provides users with an expansive array of styles to experiment with, ranging from abstract to realistic, offering a broad scope of training images. The tool boasts a high level of customization, enabling users to achieve images with intricate detail. Additionally, Midjourney features inpainting capabilities, adding a layer of versatility to image editing.
It adopts a community-driven model, attracting early adopters directly from Discord. Midjourney’s creators call it an experiment and encourage users to express themselves artistically. The platform doesn’t have strict policies on the content produced, so no artistic restrictions!
Midjourney cons
Midjourney has garnered attention in a recent controversy for using artworks to train its AI without artists’ permission, sparking discussions within the artistic community. Thus, many think that the copyright on the AI-generated image violates intellectual property rights.
Another limitation of Midjourney is the absence of text generation on images, which may limit its applicability in making some types of content. In terms of precision, Midjourney falls behind some other image-generation tools, exhibiting less impressive inpainting and outpainting capabilities.
One of the biggest problems is that to access Midjourney, users are required to register on Discord and connect to the tool through a bot, adding an extra step to the user experience. It can be an obstacle for those who are not active Discord users and just want to access the image generator feature.
Cost: $10-$120 monthly, depending on the plan
Leonardo AI for Game Development and Commercial Projects
Leonardo AI is a multi-purpose artificial intelligence tool with a web-based interface.
Leonardo AI pros
Leonardo AI's versatility shines through as it is a tool that is not limited to image generation. Users can analyze data, make predictions, and engage in various tasks beyond traditional image creation.
The platform puts an emphasis on producing assets for various projects, from advertising to interior design. Leonardo AI is suitable for commercial use as the tool was primarily created for business purposes. What’s more, Leonardo AI image generation is suitable for making game assets and character designs. It can now even make simple animations!
Leonardo AI also features a photography realism model, making it possible to generate photos that are hard to tell from real ones.
Leonardo AI cons
Navigating Leonardo AI's dashboard can be a complex and overwhelming experience for first-time users. The interface is rich with numerous buttons, options, and features, potentially requiring a learning curve for users to familiarize themselves with the diverse set of controls available.
Plus, Leonardo AI doesn’t always interpret the prompts correctly. For example, we requested a LEGO of Perpetio office with a white-and-orange dog and indicated that our corporate colors are blue and black. The AI misplaced the named colors.
Cost: Free basic plan, $10 for 8 500 images per month subscription plan, $24 for 25 000 images per month plan, and $48 for 60 000 images per month plan.
Summing Up
Out of the four image-generative AI tools we discussed today, each one has its pros and cons as well as best-suiting use cases.
DALL·E 3 stands out for its exceptional attention to detail and nuanced image generation capabilities. It boasts unique features like outpainting and inpainting, allowing users to not only generate new images but edit existing ones. It also excels in understanding conversational prompts, making it possible to build simple prompts without complications. However, its recognizable cartoonish style and strong censorship may impact creative freedom and the use cases of the artworks.
Adobe Firefly, integrated into Adobe Creative Suite, impresses with precise text-to-image generation and additional functionalities like generative fill and image recoloring. It’s a perfect match for those already using Adobe products. Its "advertising" style, limited conversational understanding, and generative credit system are notable drawbacks.
Midjourney, operating through Discord in beta, offers a community-driven, experimental approach with a broad array of styles. It faces controversies regarding artwork usage, lacks text generation, and requires Discord registration, potentially limiting accessibility.
Leonardo AI stands out for its versatility, extending beyond image generation. Leonardo AI focuses on business use cases, allowing users to integrate images into a wide range of projects. While suitable for commercial use, its complex dashboard and potential limitations in specialization may pose challenges, balanced by its unique features like a photography realism model.
Selecting the most suitable AI image generator depends on specific business requirements, considering factors such as functionality, accessibility, controversies, and cost.
If you want to go a mile further and get an AI tool that works specifically for your business needs, consider fine-tuning a model. With extra training data centered around your domain, the AI will produce results based on your input and output specifications.
Perpetio will be happy to help you make the most out of AI — let’s find a working solution for your business together.
