- Google’s Gemini can now edit both AI-generated and personal images using text prompts
- The editing tools allow for precision changes using AI
- Gemini also now supports uploading up to 10 images or files at once
Google’s Gemini AI is taking out a canvas and palette for your AI-fueled image creation in a couple of major upgrades. Gemini can now edit images directly within its chat interface, and you can send a bunch of images (or other files) for it to examine at the same time.
The new editor can work AI magic on any image you upload or that Gemini produces. You simply ask Gemini to make the changes you want. You can change the backdrop of your vacation photo to put your sad Airbnb kitchen on a Santorini cliff, get rid of that mustard stain on your jacket, and even put a funny hat on your dog despite her refusal of all headwear in real life.
You can apply multiple edits through your conversation with Gemini, stacking changes as you go. And each modification keeps earlier changes, so you don’t have to start from scratch when you decide the last couple of edits made things worse.
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Under the hood, Gemini’s editor is running a combination of tools that work together so you don’t end up with a visual Frankenstein’s monster stitching together conflicting textures, lighting, angles, and other aspects of the image. Gemini promises to keep things grounded in reality even when your imagination goes off the rails.
Google claims the editor will have many positive uses for a range of professions. Teachers could quickly build illustrated storyboards, designers could make a portfolio of product photos, and architects might visualize tweaks to building designs mid-meeting.
The editor pairs nicely with Google’s move to blow up the single-file upload limit for Gemini. Now you can upload up to ten images, PDFs, or other files all at once and ask Gemini to make sense of the mess.
AI image imagination
You may be wondering how Gemini’s editor will prevent people from leveraging its abilities to make deepfakes of real people or events for less than benign reasons. Google is keen to show that the company has thought of that. That’s why every AI-edited image gets not one but two watermarks. One is visible, and one uses Google’s SynthID, which can only be detected with software. There are also filters powered by human feedback that block ethically dicey requests.
The editor and expanded upload option are not breaking new ground, but they add depth to Gemini. It’s not just about what Gemini can tell you, it’s about what it can help you make. Google is investing a lot of effort in building Gemini into the kind of well-rounded, versatile toolkit that people are comfortable relying on.
Instead of thinking of Gemini as a mere digital notetaker or search engine with a sense of humor, Google wants people to view Gemini as a partner in creative and productive tasks. We’re still a ways off from a world where you ask Gemini to “design a birthday card and bake the cake,” but it’s closer than you might think. Until then, being able to throw ten files at Gemini and have it respond with something coherent while also placing a hat on your dog is a pretty good start.
