It was only a matter of time before Meta released its own standalone image generator, especially since it has been developing its AI model for quite some time to enter the AI race. However, it may not be available in your area yet.
Meta AI Brings 'Imagine'
Since the parent company has already brought generative AI features in its apps like Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, a website solely meant for AI was not far along. Now, you can try out its AI image generator called Imagine.
All you have to do is visit imagine.meta.com/. The image generator works like every other product, where you type in a text prompt describing the kind of image you want to generate. Just like Microsoft's Bing AI, it will produce four images you can choose from.
Before you can start generating images, you need to log in using an account from Facebook or Instagram, although that's not the only requirement. You'll need a Meta account to access the AI tool as well, which is used for Meta's VR services.
Imagine uses Meta's Emu AI model and will include a watermark to mark it as an AI-generate image. The watermark is obviously easy enough to crop or edit out, so Meta intends to implement an invisible watermarking system soon enough, as per Engadget.
The watermarking system will not be affected by any tampering efforts, such as image manipulations, cropping, color changing, and other forms of image alterations, which means that the image will always be detected as AI-generated.
Watermarking the image serves as a great measure, especially since there is a growing problem of misuse around AI regarding deepfakes. People spread fake news largely on Meta's platforms and try to add credibility to the story by generating fake images as well.
Hopefully, there are already guardrails in place to prevent users from creating insensitive images, which was apparently possible based on the AI-generated stickers that others tried creating, such as children soldiers holding firearms.
Meta Will Integrate AI in All Products
We can expect all platforms and services from the social media giant to have some kind of Ai function, as it aims to bring generative AI into "every single one" of their products. There are already AI features users can access through various sites.
Meta plans to add an image editing tool using AI for its apps, which allows users to transform images by changing the background, or even create image content with friends. The Emu-powered AI tool will be seen first on Instagram.
To change the background in an image, all a user has to do is type in prompts like "put me in front of the Eiffel Tower," and the AI tool will automatically detect the main subject of the image, remove the backdrop, and replace it with an AI-generated image.
Generative AI will also be used for assistants across Meta apps and devices. This, however, is powered by Llama 2 instead of Emu, which is Meta's latest large language model. It will appear on the company's messaging apps and soon on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and Quest 3.
