If you thought AI-generated images were already everywhere, brace yourself: the floodgates just opened.
OpenAI is rolling out its Image Generation API, providing developers with programmatic access to DALL·E 3. This includes features like inpainting (smart image editing) and automated safety filtering, enabling the generation and customization of high-quality images at scale — instantly.
Adobe is integrating OpenAI’s models into its Firefly and Express apps. Figma is enhancing its platform with advanced image generation and editing tools. Airtable is enabling enterprise teams to manage asset workflows at scale. Gamma is generating more than 5 million AI images daily for presentations and websites. HeyGen is enhancing avatar creation. OpusClip, Quora, Wix, Photoroom, and Playground are also incorporating OpenAi image capabilities.
You could call this a trend, but it isn't — it's a new production workflow with its own cost structure: $10 per million input tokens and $40 per million output tokens. (Or, approximately, $0.01 (low quality), $0.04 (medium quality), and $0.17 (high quality) per square image.) The Image Generation API outputs won't be right for every project, but where they work, they’ll outcompete every other production methodology.
We’re just months away from living in a world where any given image (especially in media, marketing, ecommerce, and presentations) has a high likelihood of being AI-generated. The political, cultural, economic, and creative implications will be massive.
Still images are just the beginning. Once video generation APIs arrive, the shift won’t just be disruptive — it will be transformative.
As always your thoughts and comments are both welcome and encouraged. Just reply to this email. -s
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.
