Microsoft’s AI-powered design tool, Microsoft Designer, went live in public preview today with a broader range of functionality.
Designer, a web software similar to Canva, can create designs for presentations, posters, digital postcards, invites, graphics, and more that can be shared on social media and other platforms. It uses DALL-E 2, OpenAI’s text-to-image AI, and user-generated material to generate designs, adding drop-down menus and text boxes for more personalization.
In a blog post posted today, Bryan Rognier, GM at Microsoft’s 365 Consumer division: “Since October, the AI models have steadily improved, and we’ve worked to weave these powerful capabilities throughout the Designer canvas in even more delightful ways while keeping you in control.”
Now, Designers can produce hashtags and written descriptions for social media posts, providing users with various options. AI-powered software can also create animated graphics with backdrops and text transitions.
According to Microsoft, the Designer app will eventually get more editing features, such as the capacity to position an object in a specific location within a visual and have the image fill in automatically. Users can remove backgrounds, people, or other elements from graphics using the upcoming “erase” and “replace background” capabilities.
Microsoft claimed that the Designer app would stay free throughout the preview period. It may be accessed through the Designer website and the sidebar in Microsoft’s Edge browser.
Once the app is broadly accessible, it will be a part of Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions. It may offer “some” functionality free to use for non-subscribers. But Microsoft didn’t specify what “some” meant.
In addition, Microsoft says that users will have “full” usage rights to commercialize the photos they make with Designer and Image Creator, answering some of the legal concerns that have lately surfaced around AI-powered image-generation systems. But, given the continuing legal disputes involving OpenAI and other businesses commercializing generative AI technologies, it’s uncertain whether that will alter in the future.
