Meta opens the gates to its generative AI tech with launch of new Imagine platform

Meta's Imagine website
(Image credit: Meta)

Amongst all the hullabaloo of Google’s Gemini launch, Meta opened the gates to its free-standing image generator website called Imagine with Meta AI.

The company has been tinkering with this technology for some time now. WhatsApp, for instance, has had a beta in-app image generator since August of this year. Accessing the feature required people to have Meta's app installed on their smartphones. But now with Imagine, all you need is an email address to create an account on the platform. Once in, you’re free to create whatever you want by entering a simple text prompt. It functions similarly to DALL-E

We tried out the website ourselves and discovered the AI will create four 1,280 x 1,280 pixel JPEG images that you can download by clicking the three dots in the upper right corner. The option will appear in the drop-down menu.

Below is a series of images we asked the engine to make. You’ll notice in the bottom left corner is a watermark stating that it was created by an AI.

We were surprised to discover that it’s able to create content featuring famous cartoon characters like Homer Simpson and even Mickey Mouse. You’d think there would be restrictions for certain copyrighted material, but apparently not. As impressive as these images may be, there are noticeable flaws. If you look at the Homer Simpson sample, you can see parts of the picture melting into each other. Plus, the character looks downright bizarre.

Limitations (and the work arounds)

A lot of care was put into the development of Imagine. You see, it's powered by Meta's proprietary Emu learning model. According to a company research paper from September, Emu was trained on “1.1 billion images”. At the time, no one really knew the source of all this data. However, Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, told Reuters it used public Facebook and Instagram posts to train the model. Altogether, over a billion social media accounts were scrapped.

To rein in all this data, Meta implemented some restrictions. The tech keeps things family friendly as it'll refuse prompts that are violent or sexual nor can they mention a famous person. 

Despite the tech giant’s best efforts, it’s not perfect by any stretch. It appears there is a way to get around said limitations with indirect wording. For example, when we asked Meta AI to create an image of former President Barack Obama, it refused. But, when we entered “a former US president” as the prompt, the AI generated a man that resembled President Obama. 

A former US president, according to Meta

(Image credit: Future)

There are plans to introduce “invisible watermarking… for increased transparency and traceability”, but it’s still weeks away from being released. A lot of damage can be done in that short period. Misuse is something that Meta is concerned about, however, there are still holes. We reached out asking if it aims to implement more protection. This story will be updated at a later time.

Until then, check out TechRadar's guide on the best AI art generators for the year.

You might also like

Cesar Cadenas
Contributor

Cesar Cadenas has been writing about the tech industry for several years now specializing in consumer electronics, entertainment devices, Windows, and the gaming industry. But he’s also passionate about smartphones, GPUs, and cybersecurity. 

Read more
An image created by Google's Imagen3 artificial intelligence image generator.
What is Imagen 3: everything you need to know about Google's text-to-image model
Google Whisk
I turned my dog into a plushie using AI and it was super easy
A promotional image for Google Whisk, an experimental AI image generator
Google Whisk is a new way to create AI visuals using image prompts – here's how to try it
An AI-generated image of the city of London in the future, created by Dall-E 3 using ChatGPT
What is DALL-E 3: everything you need to know about the AI image generator
Leonardo.AI
I used Leonardo to generate some AI images, and I can’t believe how realistic they are
The Google Gemini logo against a black background.
I tried Gemini's new AI image generation tool - here are 5 ways to get the best art from Google's upcoming Flash 2.0 built-in image upgrade
Latest in Software
A super close up image of the Google Gemini app in the Play Store
It's official: Google Assistant will be retired for phones this year, with Gemini taking over
Super Mario Odyssey
ChatGPT is the ultimate gaming tool - here's 4 ways you can use AI to help with your next playthrough
Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers remarks before the start of an Apple event at Apple headquarters on September 09, 2024 in Cupertino, California. Apple held an event to showcase the new iPhone 16, Airpods and Apple Watch models. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The big Siri Apple Intelligence delay proves that maybe we really don't know Apple at all
AI writer
Coding AI tells developer to write it himself
Google Messages update
Google Messages could soon follow WhatsApp with an upgrade that makes it much easier to join group chats
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max REVIEW
Apple Intelligence is a fever dream that I bet Apple wishes we could all forget about
Latest in News
A super close up image of the Google Gemini app in the Play Store
It's official: Google Assistant will be retired for phones this year, with Gemini taking over
Quordle on a smartphone held in a hand
Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #1147)
NYT Strands homescreen on a mobile phone screen, on a light blue background
NYT Strands hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #378)
NYT Connections homescreen on a phone, on a purple background
NYT Connections hints and answers for Sunday, March 16 (game #644)
Three iPhone 16 handsets on show
Apple could launch an iPhone 17 Ultra this year – but we've heard these rumors before
Super Mario Odyssey
ChatGPT is the ultimate gaming tool - here's 4 ways you can use AI to help with your next playthrough