OpenAI today unveiled an upgraded version of its text-to-image tool, DALL-E, that uses ChatGPT — OpenAI’s viral AI chatbot — to take some of the pain out of prompting.
Most cutting-edge, AI-powered image generation tools today take prompts — descriptions of images — and turn them into artwork in an array of styles, ranging from the photorealistic to fantastical. But crafting the right prompt can be a challenge, so much so that “prompt engineering” is becoming a bona fide profession.
OpenAI’s new tool, DALL-E 3, uses ChatGPT to help fill in prompts. Via ChatGPT, subscribers to OpenAI’s premium ChatGPT plans, ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Enterprise, as well as Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise, can type in a request for an image and hone it through conversations with the chatbot — receiving the results directly within the chat app.
ChatGPT will take a prompt as short as a few words and make it more descriptive, providing more guidance to the DALL-E 3 model.
ChatGPT integration isn’t the only thing that’s new with DALL-E 3. DALL-E 3 also generates higher-quality images that more accurately reflect prompts, OpenAI says — especially when dealing with longer prompts. And it better handles content that’s historically tripped up image-generating models, like text and human hands.
An image generated by DALL-E 3. Image Credits: OpenAI
Beyond this, DALL-E 3 has new mechanisms to reduce algorithmic bias and improve safety — or so OpenAI says. For example, DALL-E 3 will reject requests that ask for an image in the style of living artists or portray public figures. And artists can now opt out of having certain — or all of — their artwork used to train future generations of OpenAI text-to-image models. (OpenAI, along with some of its rivals, is facing a lawsuit for allegedly using artists’ copyrighted work to train its generative AI image models.)
The launch of DALL-E 3 comes as the generative AI race heats up, particularly in the image-synthesizing domain. Competitors like Midjourney and Stability AI continue to refine their image-generating models, putting the pressure on OpenAI to stay apace.
OpenAI plans to roll out DALL-E 3 to premium ChatGPT users in October, followed by research labs and its API customers. The company didn’t say when — or whether — it plans to release a free web tool, as it did with DALL-E 2 and the original DALL-E model.