Explore Adobe's AI magic, privacy battles, and Canva's creative tools in today's Quickbyte. Don't miss out

Greetings, fellow humans..

Happy Friday! Let’s slide into the weekend with some updates on the world of AI-powered tools and innovations. Adobe introduces Project Stardust, enhancing your editing experience. We also explore the heated debate on facial recognition technology and privacy concerns in the UK. Canva celebrates a decade with Magic Studio, making design effortless. Google's Assistant with Bard promises a new era of digital assistance. Microsoft elevates cloud productivity with OneDrive 3.0. And we delve into Meta's AI sticker controversy. Plus, discover a handy AI prompt for emergency preparedness.

Read on for the latest in AI tech and more!

In the loop

Project Stardust: Adobe's Next-Level AI Editing Tool Unveiled

In a remarkable move towards enhancing user experience, Adobe has rolled out substantial updates to its Firefly AI tool suite. This suite is specifically designed to streamline intricate Photoshop edits, and the latest version introduces game-changing features. Users can now manipulate flat images as independent elements, enabling Firefly to distinguish between various components like a woman, a suitcase, and hands. This marks a significant improvement, especially for the Content-Aware removal tool.

The upgraded selection tool demonstrates a higher level of sophistication by distinguishing clothing and automatically detecting unwanted background interferences like other people. While the Firefly toolset has graduated from beta, it is still undergoing active development.

Adobe has also unveiled a generative credit system, akin to DALL-E and Midjourney, which will be accessible to paid users from November 1st.

Adobe also tantalizes users with a sneak peek of Project Stardust, an AI feature poised to revolutionize image component selection. Stardust simplifies tasks such as altering the color of a model's jeans or removing objects, making Photoshop work seamlessly as if each image element existed on a separate layer. You can even instruct Photoshop to remove distractions with a single click, exemplifying Adobe's commitment to incorporating AI features into its suite of applications.

These updates underscore Adobe's dedication to delivering powerful AI-driven tools.

Facial Recognition Fury: A Clash of Ideals as Campaigners Challenge Surveillance

A fierce debate is unfolding on the frontlines of privacy and surveillance in the UK as politicians and privacy champions unite to call for an immediate halt to the use of AI facial recognition technology by both law enforcement and private entities. Their concerns encompass human rights, the potential for discrimination, and the absence of a democratic mandate for its pervasive use. This heated discussion follows government proposals to grant police access to passport photos for bolstering criminal investigations.

The Home Office asserts that facial recognition technology rests on solid legal foundations and has already contributed to the apprehension of criminals. They argue that it aids in the search for missing or vulnerable individuals, freeing up law enforcement officers for other critical duties.

The group advocating for the ban includes representatives from across the political spectrum, representing the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrat, and Green parties. They are joined by influential campaigning organizations such as Amnesty, Index on Censorship, and Big Brother Watch, forming a powerful coalition of voices calling for a reevaluation of surveillance practices.

Design Made Effortless: Canva's Magic Studio Harnesses AI for Creative Freedom

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, Canva, the renowned web-based design platform, has unveiled a game-changing suite of AI-powered design tools known as Magic Studio. This transformative suite is designed to democratize content creation, making it accessible to individuals, regardless of their prior design experience.

Among the groundbreaking features, Magic Studio introduces "Magic Switch," allowing users to effortlessly morph an existing design into an alternate format. For instance, it can seamlessly convert a blog into an email or social media post, sparing users the need for manual layout adjustments or text revisions. Moreover, this innovative feature performs automatic translations into over 100 languages, all within the same page.

Canva elevates creativity further with its revamped "Magic Media" tool, now equipped with a remarkable text-to-video capability. Powered by Runway AI, this feature empowers users to generate concise videos based on text-based prompts or by utilizing an existing image from Canva's extensive asset library.

Other exciting tools within Magic Studio include "Magic Grab," which adeptly selects and autonomously separates subjects within images for editing, repositioning, or resizing. Complementing this is "Magic Expand," enabling images to expand beyond their original frames.

While many of Magic Studio's new AI tools are exclusive to paid Canva users, the free user community won't be left behind. "Magic Alt Text" will be accessible to all, ensuring inclusivity. Free users can also dip their creative toes into features like "Magic Write" and "Magic Media," with a set usage limit before considering a premium subscription.

Crafting Stories with Art: Instagram Co-Founders' Artifact Adds AI-Generated Visuals

In the realm of innovative content creation, Artifact, the AI-powered news app brought to life by Instagram's co-founders, is making waves once again. This time, it's unveiling a groundbreaking feature that empowers users to conjure captivating cover art for their content using the magic of AI. The goal? To infuse their stories with eye-catching visuals that truly captivate their audience.

Here's how it works: Users start by creating a post, then navigate to the photo frame and click the "+" symbol. Within this digital canvas, they'll find the "Create with AI" option. By simply typing a description or a set of keywords, users can generate a unique image. Users can also fine-tune their creations by specifying a particular style, genre, or medium. These AI-crafted masterpieces can be effortlessly saved to complement their content.

This new tool stands as just one of Artifact's many AI-driven innovations introduced since its debut in January. Beyond the realm of visual artistry, the app employs AI to provide article summaries, identify clickbait content, and even narrate news articles using the voices of celebrities.

The Future of Digital Assistance: Google's Assistant with Bard Unveiled

Google is ushering in a new era of digital assistance with the introduction of "Assistant with Bard." This innovative feature harnesses the power of Google Assistant and generative AI to deliver a profoundly personalized and intuitive digital assistant experience.

Assistant with Bard is designed to comprehend and adapt to users' unique needs, revolutionizing how personal tasks are managed. Users can engage with this multifaceted assistant through text, voice, or images, opening up a world of possibilities. While this feature is currently in its early stages, it is set to be rolled out to early testers in the near future. Android and iOS users can look forward to experiencing this groundbreaking digital assistant on their mobile devices in the coming months.

OneDrive 3.0: Microsoft's Bold Vision for Enhanced Cloud Productivity

Microsoft is taking its cloud storage game to the next level with the announcement of OneDrive's third generation. This substantial upgrade introduces a host of exciting features, including a sleek Fluent design, seamless AI Copilot integration, and enhanced capabilities for businesses.

The revamped OneDrive web app now boasts an AI-powered file recommendations section, simplifying file discovery and management for users. The search experience within OneDrive is also receiving an AI-powered overhaul, simplifying the process of locating friends and family in stored images.

This overhaul signifies a remarkable stride toward a more intuitive and efficient cloud storage experience.

Emu's Sticker Generation Raises Eyebrows: Meta Faces AI Content Control Challenge

Meta's latest AI innovation, Emu (Expressive Media Universe), has sparked controversy due to its inadvertent generation of inappropriate content. Originally designed to craft stickers based on user prompts across platforms like Instagram, Facebook Stories, WhatsApp, and Messenger, Emu has encountered issues related to the creation of unsavory content, including depictions of weapons and nudity.

While Emu incorporates safeguards to block explicit phrases, it has shown vulnerabilities by allowing certain controversial phrases and prompts to evade detection. For instance, although the AI successfully blocks a phrase like "child with gun," it proceeds to generate stickers for similar phrases like "child with grenade," portraying children holding weapons.

Furthermore, the tool permits the generation of contentious images involving public figures, as observed with the phrase "elon musk mammaries" managing to bypass Emu's content filters.

Meta emphasizes that its platforms witness billions of stickers shared monthly, offering users countless opportunities to challenge the AI with illicit or inappropriate language and phrases. This incident underscores the complex task of responsibly implementing AI systems, highlighting the need for robust content control measures.

Recipe for success

With today’s AI recipe you can efficiently create and schedule visually appealing social media posts without the need for extensive design skills. It helps maintain a consistent social media presence, engage your audience, and save time on manual posting. Happy creating!

1. Start by designing eye-catching social media graphics in Canva. Use Canva's AI-powered design suggestions and templates to create engaging visuals that resonate with your audience.

2. Once your graphics are ready, use Buffer's AI generated content suggestions and scheduling feature to plan and automate your social media posts. You can schedule posts across multiple platforms, ensuring a consistent online presence.

3. Integrate Canva and Buffer to streamline your workflow further. With this integration, you can directly access your Canva designs from within Buffer and schedule posts with your graphics seamlessly.

Who this recipe is for

Small businesses, content creators, and social media managers can benefit from this recipe to enhance their social media strategy, boost engagement, and stay organized.

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