Microsoft is rolling out a new version of its Paint application for Windows that includes Paint Cocreator, an AI component that helps users of Paint create artwork.
Paint Cocreator is based on DALL-E, a generative AI visual art platform by OpenAI. The integrated system works similarly to Microsoft’s Image Creator, which anyone may access on the Bing website.
Paint users describe what they would like created by the AI and the AI interprets the instructions to create three artworks. Users may select a style, e.g., pixel art, and hit the create button to start the process.
All three creations are returned in Paint and a click on one of them opens it in the main pane of the image editor. These images can be saved to the local system or edited, but Paint is still limited when it comes to that, despite the recent features that Microsoft introduced in the image editor.
New features let users remove backgrounds from images and layers in the image editor.
Users get 50 credits to get started using Paint Cocreator. For that, they need to link their Microsoft Account to the feature first. Information on adding credits to the account is not provided at this time; it is possible that users may gain them via Microsoft Rewards and through other means later on.
The feature is restricted in several ways at the time of writing:
- Microsoft rolls out Paint Cocreator to Windows 11 Canary and Dev Insider systems. Not all Insiders get the new functionality right away.
- Paint Cocreator is available in the following regions only: United States, France, UK, Australia, Canada, Italy, and Germany.
- Instructions may only be provided in English.
Image generation is restricted in the same way as Bing Image Creator. Microsoft uses content filtering and safeguards to “prevent the generation of images that may be harmful, offensive, or inappropriate”.
Closing Words
Paint users who don’t want to use Cocreator may ignore the new button in the interface. Since it requires linking a Microsoft account, it won’t work, even if activated accidentally without linking first.
It makes sense for Microsoft to integrate the image editor in Paint, even though it has nothing to offer that the Image Creator on Bing does not offer already. It is a natural match, and since it is optional, it should not irritate too many users.
