AI art generators have democratized visual creativity in a way that's genuinely historic. For the first time, anyone can produce high-quality original images from a text description - no Photoshop skills, no stock photo budget, no brief to a designer. The tools are powerful enough for professional use and accessible enough for anyone with an idea.
Style range and quality
Does it handle photorealism, illustration, oil painting, and abstract styles equally well? Some generators excel at one aesthetic and produce mediocre results in others. Test across styles you actually need.
Prompt control
How precisely can you direct the composition, lighting, color palette, and subject? More control means more usable outputs on the first try. Negative prompts, aspect ratios, and style weights all matter.
Image-to-image capability
Can you upload a reference image and generate variations? This is essential for maintaining visual consistency and for working from rough sketches or mood boards.
Upscaling and resolution
Does it output at high enough resolution for print, web banners, or presentation backgrounds? Check native output size and whether upscaling is available in the plan.
Midjourney remains the quality benchmark for artistic output, though it requires Discord. Adobe Firefly is the best choice for designers already in Creative Cloud - it integrates with Photoshop and Illustrator and has clean commercial terms. Stable Diffusion (via ComfyUI or Automatic1111) offers maximum control for technical users.
This is still being resolved by courts and copyright offices globally. In the US, purely AI-generated images without meaningful human creative input cannot currently be registered for copyright. The underlying training data copyright issues are in active litigation. Use tools with clear commercial terms and consult a lawyer for high-stakes commercial use.
This was a major limitation until recently. Tools like Midjourney's character reference feature, Stable Diffusion LoRAs, and Adobe Firefly's style reference now offer meaningful character consistency. It's not perfect for all use cases, but it's workable for many publishing and marketing applications.
