Shopify has added an AI image editor to its Magic Suite that aims to help sellers create professional product photos.
Back in April, Shopify launched a suite of generative AI tools that centered around producing text for item descriptions and an AI chatbot.
But now it has added a media editor that brings generative image fill to the platform allowing users to change photo backgrounds to help their products stand out. It is powered by AI. Merchants.
Shopify’s AI image editor is expected to roll out this spring and it will suggest backgrounds and styles that are consistent with existing product images in the merchant’s library.
Shopify’s vice president of product Glen Coates tells The Verge that many sellers don’t have access to professional photographers or big studios so the new image tool aims to meet that demand.
“We know not everyone has access to studios or mannequins, so we want to lower the barriers to entry for entrepreneurs to present their products in the best light,” Coates says. “We’re not forcing anyone to use this feature, but it will be an extra helping hand.”
In 2021, PetaPixel reported that AI-editing software autoRetouch was available as a plugin via the Shopify App Store.
The AI-powered service allowed e-commerce sellers to easily create “ghost mannequin” composite photos of their clothing products by removing the model’s body from them. This process resulted in a “floating” product photograph with a neutral background — a type of shot that is fairly common in fashion retail.
But now the AI image editing tool is being provided by Shopify itself and therefore much easier to use. The editing app is in line with Google’s AI Product Studio aimed at helping businesses to create their own high-quality images without the need for an “expensive” photographer.
And in October, Amazon released a new beta feature that uses artificial intelligence to generate virtual backgrounds for product advertisements, putting virtual backgrounds behind real items.
The rise of text-to-image AI models has allowed large e-commerce platforms to help sellers’ products look better. Generative AI means that lay people who don’t know photo editing can more easily create better images using intuitive tools. Whether all of this new tech comes at the cost of photogrpahers is up for debate.
