Microsoft is making its DALL-E-powered AI image generator “available on desktop for Edge users around the world.” The company announced it’d be coming last month when it integrated the image generation tech into its Bing chatbot, but this move could make it available to a much wider audience.
When it rolls out — I and two other Verge staffers using Edge don’t appear to have access to it yet — the “Image Creator” will live in Edge’s sidebar. Using it should be pretty simple; you type in what you want to see, and Bing will generate several images that match the prompt. Then, you can download the ones you like and use them however you need.
In a Thursday blog post, Microsoft pitches the feature as a way to create “very specific” visuals when they’re working on social media posts or slideshows and documents. While this has been possible in a variety of ways before — you could use OpenAI’s DALL-E, Microsoft’s Bing image creator site, the built-in image generator in Bing Chat, or one of the many other image generators — putting it right in Edge’s sidebar makes it much easier to ask an AI to make you some pictures while you’re doing something else on the web.
According to Microsoft, you will have to manually add it to your sidebar before you can use it, at least for now. To do so, open the sidebar, click the “+” button, then toggle the switch next to Image Creator.
Microsoft is “experimenting with limits based on usage patterns and continuing to learn to help us optimize the experience for customers,” according to a statement to The Verge from Katy Asher, senior director of communications. “Today most users are not encountering a limit to the number of images they can create per day.”
The company is also adding other features to Edge, such as the Drop tool that lets you send files and other content to yourself, creating a personal notebook that syncs across devices. Microsoft also added a tool called “Browser essentials,” which is basically a button that you can click on to have Edge tell you what a great job it’s doing at being efficient and scanning for malware (though this feature is currently only available on early-access builds).
Update April 7th, 6:01PM ET: Added statement from Microsoft about image generation limitations.
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Mitchell Clark