How to Use AI in Photoshop: A Complete Guide to Generative Features

Why Is AI in Photoshop More Than Just a Trend? Photoshop is no stranger to innovation.

But Adobe's integration of artificial intelligence through Adobe Firefly has transformed it from a manual image editing tool into a smart creative platform.

For creators and designers across industries, the difference is monumental.

AI now powers tasks that once required hours of effort and years of technical expertise. You can remove an object from an image in seconds.

You can expand a canvas and have Photoshop intelligently guess what should fill the new space. You can even describe what you want to see, and let AI bring it to life.

For businesses, these tools are essential when trying to determine what are five marketing strategies that retailers spend half of their annual budget on? AI-powered design tools make such decisions easier, speeding up the process of visual content creation.

According to Adobe’s Creative Trends report, over 80% of designers using Photoshop daily now incorporate AI tools into their standard workflow.

Not only that, but businesses leveraging AI for creative output report 35% faster production times and 27% fewer revisions, leading to measurable time and cost savings.

But these tools are only as powerful as the people who know how to use them.

This guide is built for professionals, enthusiasts, and businesses alike.

By the end of it, you’ll know exactly how to use AI in Photoshop, from the basics of Generative Fill to advanced reference-based editing workflows, and you’ll understand how to apply those tools to real-world scenarios.

Contact Us Today!

What Is Adobe Photoshop’s AI?

Adobe Photoshop’s AI capabilities are powered by Adobe Firefly, a suite of generative artificial intelligence models trained for visual creativity. Unlike generalized AI models, Firefly is designed specifically for image generation, enhancement, and editing, with safety and commercial use at its core.

For professionals wondering how to use AI in Adobe Photoshop, the introduction of Firefly represents more than just a new tool; it’s a step toward rethinking how design and editing workflows function.

This is exactly where Digital Transformation Services add value. By helping creative teams adopt AI-driven tools seamlessly, businesses can modernize processes, boost efficiency, and unlock new opportunities for innovation in design and marketing.

This transformation also aligns with optimizing strategies such as Duckduckgo vs Google to increase search engine visibility, helping businesses stay competitive.

How Firefly Works Inside Photoshop?

• It analyzes your visual input, like a selected area of a photo or an entire canvas.
• It combines this with your written instructions (prompts) or your design actions.
• Then, it generates a set of creative outputs that blend seamlessly with your existing image.
• You retain full control: choose, refine, or regenerate the results.

Unlike past tools like Content-Aware Fill, Firefly understands not just pixels but context. This means better blending, realistic texture matching, and outputs that make artistic and commercial sense.

Benefits of Firefly-Powered AI in Photoshop

• Outputs are safe for commercial use due to ethical training data
• Supports multilingual prompts and flexible text-to-image creation
• Learns from patterns and evolves to create context-aware suggestions
• Seamlessly integrates into Photoshop’s native UI and layer system

The result isn’t just automated editing, it’s context-aware creativity on demand. For creative professionals exploring how to use AI tools in Photoshop, these benefits redefine what’s possible in design workflows. By combining these capabilities with professional Design Services, businesses can translate AI-generated content into polished, brand-aligned visuals that maintain consistency across campaigns, products, and platforms.

7 Core Tools: AI Features in Photoshop You Need to Know

To understand AI in Photoshop how to use effectively, you need to know which tools are AI-powered and what they’re designed to do.

Here’s a list of the most important ones available in 2024 and what’s coming in 2025:

1. Generative Fill: Add or replace image elements using text prompts or context.
2. Generative Expand: Automatically fill canvas extensions with AI-generated content.
3. Remove Tool: Brush over unwanted objects and let AI cleanly remove them.
4. AI Selection Tools: One-click subject and background selection.
5. AI Background Removal: Instantly isolates and deletes backgrounds around your subject.
6. Sky Replacement: Auto-detects skies and replaces them with mood-matching options.
7. Auto Adjustments: Applies intelligent lighting, contrast, and color corrections.

For brands and design teams, these tools make workflows faster, smarter, and more flexible. Pairing them with expert Creative Services ensures the raw AI capabilities are refined into cohesive, on-brand assets that resonate with audiences across campaigns and digital platforms.

These tools are essential for businesses, especially those relying on strong Google keyword ranking and top search engines for visibility, as they can quickly produce professional visuals for use across multiple digital platforms.

Explore Our Creative Services!

Upcoming AI Features in Photoshop 2025

• Reference-Based Generation: Use a reference image to guide style and content generation.
• Smart Prompt Refinement: The AI begins to remember your style and suggest tailored edits.
• Layer-aware AI: The AI recognizes layer context and outputs non-destructive suggestions.
• Responsive Object Resizing: Resize objects, and AI will auto-adjust the background accordingly.

Each tool brings new layers of flexibility to designers, removing friction from the creative process.

How to Use Generative Fill in Photoshop (Step-by-Step)?

Generative Fill is one of the most impactful AI tools Adobe has introduced. It allows you to use natural language to add, change, or remove elements from a photo.

1. How to use AI Generative Fill in Photoshop?

1. Open your image in Photoshop.
2. Use the Lasso Tool or Marquee Tool to select the part of the image you want to edit.
3. From the Contextual Taskbar, click Generative Fill.
4. Type a prompt describing what you want to appear in that space.
5. Click Generate. Photoshop will render several variations.
6. Choose your preferred option or click Generate again for more versions.

For businesses, this capability goes beyond quick edits; it’s a tool that can enhance B2B Marketing Services. Marketers can instantly produce variations of ad creatives, adjust visuals for different buyer segments, or refine imagery for specific campaigns without extended turnaround times.

Generative Fill makes creative testing and personalization faster, giving B2B campaigns a competitive edge.

2. Top 4 Practical Uses for Generative Fill

1. Replacing a background with a beach, forest, or urban skyline
2. Adding objects like trees, clouds, or furniture
3. Editing facial expressions or outfit details
4. Removing distractions like people, signs, or wires

This tool turns Photoshop from a reactive editing tool into a proactive creative assistant.

How to Use the Remove Tool?

If you’ve ever tried removing a person, object, or flaw manually, you know how time-consuming it can be. With the new Remove Tool, powered by AI, the process is as simple as brushing over the problem.

4 Steps for how to use AI to remove objects in Photoshop

1. Select the Remove Tool from your toolbar.
2. Adjust the brush size to fit your target area.
3. Paint over the object or distraction you want to eliminate.
4. Photoshop auto-generates the background using surrounding data.

This tool works best on images with consistent textures and lighting, such as landscapes, portraits, or product shots. For businesses, clean and polished visuals aren’t just aesthetic; they directly influence discoverability.

High-quality imagery supports stronger rankings in Google Images, boosts product listing performance, and improves overall digital credibility. Pairing this AI capability with expert SEO Services ensures visuals aren’t just flawless but also optimized to attract and convert audiences online.

Explore Our Design Services!

How to Use AI to Change or Remove Backgrounds?

Removing or changing backgrounds used to take intricate selection work. Now, with Photoshop’s AI tools, it takes less than 30 seconds.

1. How to use AI to remove backgrounds in Photoshop?

1. Open your photo and go to Select > Subject.
2. Photoshop will auto-detect the main subject.
3. In the Properties Panel, click Remove Background.
4. The background disappears, leaving your subject on a transparent layer.

2. How to replace the background?

• Drag and drop a new background image into the canvas.
• Place it under your subject layer.
• Resize and blend for a natural look.

This feature is crucial for ecommerce product listings, social media content, and presentations, in any scenario where consistent imagery builds trust.

Pairing this functionality with expert Web Design & Development Services ensures that the visuals you edit with Photoshop are not only clean but also seamlessly integrated into your digital platforms, helping your website stand out and engage visitors more effectively.

Using Generative Expand to Extend Your Image

Generative Expand allows you to increase the size of your canvas and fill the newly added areas with AI-generated imagery that blends seamlessly with the original.

1. How to use AI to expand an image in Photoshop?

1. Open your image and select the Crop Tool.
2. Extend the canvas outward.
3. When prompted, click Generative Expand.
4. Leave the prompt blank for auto-fill, or describe what should appear.
5. Photoshop fills the new space with matching details.

2. Ideal Uses

• Social banners in wider formats
• Poster designs needing additional negative space
• Reformatting for different screen resolutions

For brands, this tool is invaluable when scaling assets for multi-channel campaigns.

By pairing Photoshop’s generative capabilities with professional Creative Services, businesses can adapt visuals for different formats while preserving design consistency.

This ensures every banner, poster, or digital asset feels cohesive, polished, and aligned with brand identity.

How to Use AI to Edit Photos in Photoshop?

The AI features in Photoshop extend far beyond creative compositions. They're now embedded into core editing workflows, allowing users to achieve professional-quality photo edits with fewer manual steps.

1. How to use AI editing in Photoshop effectively?

• Adjust exposure, brightness, and contrast based on subject analysis
• Detect and correct color imbalances using scene recognition
• Recolor specific areas while preserving shading and gradients
• Smooth skin tones and textures without over-editing
• Remove noise or artifacts from compressed or low-light images

For businesses, these capabilities aren’t just about aesthetics; they’re about performance.

High-quality, AI-enhanced visuals improve click-through rates, engagement, and trust across campaigns.

When integrated with Digital Marketing Services, these edits become the foundation of stronger ad creatives, landing pages, and social content that drive measurable results.

2. Using AI Auto Adjustments

1. Open the image you want to edit.
2. Go to Image > Auto Tone / Auto Contrast / Auto Color. These now use AI to adapt intelligently to the image content.
3. For more control, use the Camera Raw Filter and enable Enhance Details.
4. Apply AI-driven lens corrections based on metadata and scene structure.

These tools are ideal for photographers, real estate marketers, content creators, and anyone who needs fast, reliable image correction without the guesswork.

Explore Our Web Design & Development Services!

Using Reference Images in Photoshop AI

Photoshop’s beta tools now include the ability to use reference images to guide AI generation. This adds a layer of consistency and control for creators who want more than random generative output.

How to use a reference image in Photoshop AI?

1. Select an area in your image using the Lasso or Object Selection Tool.
2. Open the Generative Fill panel.
3. Instead of typing a prompt, upload a reference image from your computer.
4. Photoshop analyzes the style, texture, and color palette from the reference and matches your selection accordingly.

For brands running campaigns across email, web, and sales collateral, this feature is a game-changer.

When paired with B2B Marketing Services, it ensures that creative assets remain aligned with brand guidelines, resonate with professional audiences, and maintain a uniform look across every touchpoint, from pitch decks to digital ads.

1. Ideal Use Cases for Reference-Based AI

• Creating brand-consistent marketing images
• Matching product imagery across multiple assets
• Designing themed graphics with visual coherence
• Storyboarding or illustration consistency

By grounding the AI in a real example, you reduce variability and improve output alignment with your creative direction.

Photoshop 2024 vs 2025 AI Features Comparison

Adobe’s development roadmap for Photoshop is increasingly centered around AI.

The 2024 release introduced core generative tools, while the 2025 beta expands their depth and intelligence.

1. What’s Available in Photoshop 2024?

• Generative Fill and Expand
• Remove the Tool and background replacement
• AI-powered selection (Subject, Sky, Hair)
• One-click auto enhancements
• Layer-aware object detection

2. What’s Coming in Photoshop 2025 (Beta)?

• Reference-based image generation
• Style-aware prompt memory
• AI layer suggestions and responsive UI
• Enhanced realism in low-light scenes
• Smart brush tools with AI-driven corrections

For users asking how to use new AI in Photoshop, the shift from 2024 to 2025 introduces smarter, more context-aware tools designed to reduce manual work.

To make the most of these evolving capabilities, SharePoint Consulting Services can help creative and marketing teams centralize their workflows, share AI-driven assets securely, and streamline adoption across departments.

By ensuring alignment, businesses can roll out these updates more effectively while maintaining productivity.

Real-World Use Cases: Who Should Be Using Photoshop AI?

AI tools in Photoshop aren’t just for digital artists or tech-savvy creatives. They're becoming standard practice across industries, especially where visual content drives performance.

1. Industries Already Using AI in Photoshop:

• E-commerce: Automate product photo editing, background removal, and promotional graphics
• Marketing Agencies: Accelerate banner creation, email graphics, and A/B test variants
• Social Media Managers: Generate high-volume, on-brand content with less time
• Photographers: Retouch, clean, and enhance images at scale without outsourcing
• Small Business Owners: Create professional visuals without needing design teams

2. Business Benefits of Adopting AI Workflows

• Reduces design turnaround times by up to 50%
• Decreases dependency on external tools or plugins
• Improves consistency across brand visuals
• Enables faster experimentation and ideation
• Lowers the cost of photo editing and revisions

With Adobe’s AI tools integrated into Photoshop’s core, these benefits are accessible to businesses of all sizes, not just creative teams with deep design knowledge.

7 Best Practices for Using AI in Photoshop

While the tools are powerful, the best results come from using them with intention and strategy. Here are the best practices to follow when incorporating AI into your editing process:

1. Always work on duplicate layers to preserve the original image
2. Use specific, descriptive prompts when generating content (e.g., “sunset sky with clouds” instead of “sky”)
3. Keep your canvas resolution high for better AI blending
4. Refine edges manually when working with complex selections (like hair or glass)
5. Use layer masks to combine AI-generated content with manual edits
6. Combine AI suggestions with creative direction to avoid generic outputs
7. Stay updated with Adobe’s release notes to learn new tool capabilities

These guidelines ensure that while AI supports your creativity, your work remains polished, intentional, and aligned with your brand or project goals.

7 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Photoshop AI

Even though Photoshop AI is designed for ease of use, it’s still easy to misapply it, especially for beginners or those transitioning from traditional editing.

Here are mistakes to avoid:

1. Relying on AI to finalize a project without reviewing its impact on image realism
2. Using vague prompts that result in unrelated or inconsistent outputs
3. Forgetting to save different versions during experimentation
4. Applying AI edits destructively without layer preservation
5. Assuming AI-generated content always looks natural without checking shadows or depth
6. Overusing AI tools to the point where the image loses authenticity
7. Using AI-generated images in commercial work without confirming Adobe Firefly licensing terms

Avoiding these mistakes keeps your work high-quality, editable, and compliant.

View Our Portfolio!

FAQs: How to Use AI in Photoshop?

How to use AI in Photoshop?

Use features like Generative Fill, Generative Expand, and the Remove Tool from the contextual taskbar after selecting the area you want to edit.

How to use AI generative fill in Photoshop?

Select the part of the image you want to change, click “Generative Fill,” enter a prompt, and generate AI variations.

How to use AI to remove backgrounds in Photoshop?

Go to Select > Subject, then click “Remove Background” in the Properties panel. Photoshop will isolate and remove the background automatically.

How to use the AI tool in Photoshop to expand an image?

Use the Crop Tool to increase canvas size and choose “Generative Expand.” Photoshop fills the new space based on the surrounding image content.

How to use Adobe AI in Photoshop for editing?

You can enhance photos using AI-driven auto adjustments, object removal, and content-aware edits without needing plugins or external tools.

Book A Free Call Now!

Conclusion: Why You Should Be Using AI in Photoshop Today

The question is no longer whether AI belongs in Photoshop; it’s how quickly you can start using it effectively. With generative tools now integrated directly into the Photoshop interface, there's no need for third-party plugins or complex workarounds.

Whether you're editing product shots, generating marketing graphics, cleaning up photography, or experimenting with digital art, Photoshop’s AI tools offer:

• Speed
• Precision
• Scalability
• Creative freedom

At Centric, the learning curve is minimal, and the payoff is immediate. You’ll spend less time on repetitive edits and more time creating work that’s strategic, polished, and performance-driven.