Adobe rival Procreate bets against gen AI to support human creativity

In stark contrast to mainstream competitors, Procreate has said it would not use generative AI features in its products to protect artists.

Going against the mainstream wave of artificial adoption, illustration and animation app Procreate will not integrate generative artificial intelligence elements or features into its digital painting products.

Procreate CEO James Cuda shared his distaste for the use of generative AI in digital art in a video captioned, “We’re never going there. Creativity is made, not generated.” Instead, he believes generative AI negatively impacts human creativity. He said in an X post:

“I really fucking hate generative AI. I really don’t like what’s happening in the industry, and I don’t like what it’s doing to artists.”

Limiting creativity to humans only

By not giving in to generative AI, unlike its direct competitors such as Adobe Photoshop, Cuda believes Procreate is “on the right path supporting human creativity.”

Procreate’s illustration and animation tools can be used with Adobe Photoshop, but the latter offers a greater number of AI features, especially for photo editing.

Mainstream adoption of generative AI

On the other hand, Procreate’s rivals, such as Adobe and Canva, are betting big on gen AI elements. Adobe recently introduced generative AI features in its creative apps through Firefly models and services. Canva, on its part, has introduced AI-powered tools through Magic Studio.

Related: California AI bill under scrutiny by US policymakers

Procreate’s decision is not the first in the industry. Clip Studio Paint, the Japanese illustration app, said in a December 2022 statement that it no longer intended to implement the image generator palette since the “image generation AI exploits other artists’ intellectual property and is unusable.”

Clip Studio Paint had launched an AI image generator palette but later decided not to implement it in its current form following community backlash. Clip Studio Paint said that it had gotten so preoccupied with gen AI technology that its focus shifted away from core users.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued new guidelines for generative AI use in consumer-facing applications to safeguard end-users. The HKMA has introduced reforms to its preexisting four pillars of guidance on the use of the technology in a circular issued to authorized institutions, primarily the banks.