My position on AI is far from unique. Like many photographers (as well as countless other artists from innumerable other professions), when I think about everything that AI has the potential to contribute to my daily workflow, I am simultaneously both intrigued and skeptical.

But I want to be clear— I was not TRYING to purposefully stump Photoshop’s new AI background generator. That was not what I set out to do.

I simply had a list of scenarios that I believed could have some artistic value or visual interest, and it just so happened that Photoshop was unable to materialize any of those ideas in any meaningful or desirable way.

I’m not saying it’s not possible, or that with more time spent auditioning the results of more and more refined prompts I couldn’t get closer to achieving something worthwhile, I’m just saying that I came away feeling that my time could be better spent elsewhere.

Being given a tool that produces fun/pretty results — only so long as you’re not too picky about the exact nature of those results— is what I would consider an amusing toy, a novelty.

Because let’s be real, how often do any of us find ourselves in a situation where we (or our clients) are not looking for a highly specific and thoughtful outcome?

“Surprise me!” said no client, ever. 😂

However, as you will see in Part 2, when I place the Maasai tribesmen in front of a real photo of Banana Republic store, Photoshop's background generator was able to assist me in adding realistic shadows on the shiny mall floor in just a few simple clicks – easily the most helpful thing it did all day! lol

Video continued in Part 2

Once I gained a better understanding of what kind of things Photoshop’s background generator would and would not generate, it turned out that was just the beginning of my problems. Because perplexingly, almost every background Photoshop generated for me was nonsensical in some fundamental way. 🤨

I’m not even kidding when I tell you that I actually looked to make sure I didn’t have some box accidentally checked that said something like “✅ Disregard laws of physics” or “✅ Take shocking and fanciful liberties with our understanding of the natural world.”

😂

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By now I’ve come to accept this about myself— the only way for me to have fun experimenting with a new technology or playing with a new piece of equipment (or software) is for me to invent something that I find amusing enough to keep me interested, but not important enough to be stressful.

For example, I wouldn’t have fun experimenting with something new on a high stakes project or anything with a deadline. Absolutely not. That would go from fun to frustrating almost immediately.

(And invariably, I’d just revert back to methods I know are tried and true to get the job done right and completed on time).

That’s why I liked this little fake project so much. Since it wasn’t technically FOR anything, it was a stress-free zone to play around in, but with enough of a clearly defined premise that I could easily determine if this new Photoshop feature was helpful.

I’d think to myself, “Could I use any of the results I’m getting here from Photoshop if this were a real assignment? Is any of this useful?

Well, again, I’m glad this was just for fun because — as you can see— the answers are NO and …MAYBE?” 🥴

Like I state in my caption for Part 1, Photoshop’s new background generator is a fun novelty, but helpful only if you are very, very flexible about your end result.

Therefore, my takeaway is that it could be useful in several different very specific scenarios… I just can’t think of any way, yet, that it can be useful to ME.