AI graphics have taken on a whole recent life over the last few months, and with the plethora of options available, finding a great AI graphics generator isn’t all that complex. But only because a bot Power creating AI art doesn’t mean he’s the best at it. If you want to get the highest quality AI graphics along with the best features, several AI graphics generators stand out from the rest.
The ethics of creating AI art
Of course, it is impossible to talk about AI art generators without discussing the general ethics of AI art. The general idea is that while you can ask the AI to do almost anything, you really shouldn’t do it – or at least you should always consider what you’re using the AI generator for. That’s because copyright issues and a host of other ethical issues continue to haunt the AI art world. You can check out our in-depth article for a deeper dive into the ethics of creating and publishing AI art. Please also note that different AI programs and applications have different rules and policies regarding the distribution of AI-generated art. Not all systems will allow you to sell the art of AI, so keep this in mind if you are trying to do business this way.
While there are tons of options, including some massive names, I’ve focused on five AI graphics generators that I believe offer the best features and options for users, as well as the best possible prices and results.
Halfway through the journey
Source: Joshua Hawkins / Midjourney
Often considered the creme de la creme of AI image generation, Midjourney offers users a ton of great features, including the option to randomly select prompts, make compact changes between iterations, and even combine other images with the prompts.
The Midjourney user community is also huge, giving you plenty of room to ask questions and learn from others. The downside, however, is that Midjourney relies too heavily on Discord to get things done. This makes Midjourney complex to operate, and the app has a huge learning curve that many people may simply not want to spend the time on. Midjourney is moving away from using Discord, but the main app is currently only available to a constrained number of users.
Midjourney offers 25 free credits per account and comes with: multiple monthly subscriptions from $10 to $120 per month. These plans have different image generation limits, as well as some additional features, such as hidden mode, which is only available on the Pro plan or higher ($60 or $120, depending on whether you choose the Pro or Mega plan).
OD-E 3
Source: Joshua Hawkins / OpenAI
DALL-E 3 is an AI image generation model created and used by ChatGPT’s parent company, OpenAI. As such, DALL-E 3 is readily available within ChatGPT Plus as well as various resources using GPT 4.0, including the Bing Image Maker.
DALL-E 3 is incredibly versatile, and if you purchase ChatGPT Plus ($20 per month), you’ll get unlimited access to DALL-E 3 within ChatGPT, making it one of the best ways to immerse yourself in creating AI art. It is also a very useful image creation tool, although you lose some of the great features that Midjourney offers, such as the ability to resize images that have already been generated.
DALL-E 3 works by inputting prompts, much like Midjourney, so getting started creating images is relatively simple – but can be a bit complex to master because you really have to perfect the prompts to get the results you want. However, if you already have ChatGPT Plus or are using Bing Image Creator, you can try DALL-E 3 and see if it suits your needs.
Dream studio
Source: Joshua Hawkins / Stability.ai
The official Stable Diffusion web app, Dream studio is a welcome option for users who like the images DALL-E 3 displays, but want something with a few extra bells and whistles. Just for signing up you will receive 25 credits, and for just $10 you can easily purchase 1,000 additional credits. That’s roughly enough credits to generate 1,200 images, depending on how you mess with the settings.
Where DreamStudio shines is in its stalwart settings menu. The web app is very powerful and gives you access to a range of different features, including how many steps the AI takes to generate images and whether it iterates on an image it has already generated or starts from scratch.
The free trial gives you a good chance to test out the interface, and this is one of the reasons why DreamStudio is such a welcome addition to the world of AI graphics generation.
Night cafe
Source: Joshua Hawkins / Night Cafe
If you are looking for an app with more features and style options, this is it Night cafe it is solid and worth considering. Created in partnership with a community of AI art enthusiasts, this app offers monthly challenges, a gallery showcasing your work, and even a community Discord server you can join if you so choose.
It starts at $6 per month for 100 credits, or about 1,000 images per month, depending on the settings you operate, and allows you to operate a variety of AI models. This is where Night Cafe shines, as you can take advantage of styles and models such as DALL-E 2, CLIP-Guided Diffusion, VQGAN-CLIP, and even Stable Diffusion, so you can see your prompts in many different styles.
