Meta unveils Emu Edit: Precise image editing via text instructions

Emu Edit edits like a human through multi-task training.

"Multi-turn image editing. Each subsequent image is derived from the prior one, using its associated caption."

Artificial intelligence has made incredible strides in recent years at generating and modifying visual content. But a persistent challenge has been enabling AI systems to precisely edit images based on free-form instructions from users. Now, researchers from Meta's AI lab have developed a novel AI system called Emu Edit (project page, paper) that makes significant progress on this problem through multi-task learning. Their work represents a major advance for instruction-based image editing. Let's see what the model can do and how it works!

"Figure 1. Emu Edit is a multi-tasking model that combines various editing (left, middle) and vision (right) tasks for precise image editing."

The Context: AI-Powered Image Editing

Image editing is a ubiquitous task in today's world, used by professionals and amateurs alike. However, conventional editing tools like Photoshop require significant expertise and time investment to master. AI-based editing holds the promise of enabling casual users to make sophisticated image edits using natural language.