The World’s First Completely AI-Powered Photo Editor Will Debut Before the Year Is Out

Skylum’s Luminar AI, billed as “the first image editor fully powered by artificial intelligence,” will come available before the year is out.

Already, the image editor has created controversy among photographers thanks to its automated, AI-based approach to image editing, with some claiming that Luminar AI’s easy, no-experience-necessary approach is problematic – or even cheating.

And while we don’t know exactly how the program works, Skylum has released several videos showing off some of Luminar AI’s standout features.

Highlights include:

• Composition AI, which automatically straightens your images and suggests cropping based on compositional guidelines and feedback from professional photographers
• Face AI and Skin AI, which automatically retouch your subjects’ faces for improved teeth, lips, skin, and much more
• Sky AI, which allows you to instantly swap skies while automatically adjusting for changes in lighting and color
• Atmosphere AI, which lets you enhance your images with weather effects (such as haze, steam, drizzle, fog, and mist)

To see some of these AI effects in action, check out Skylum’s latest video:

While Luminar AI will be offered as a standalone editing program, Skylum’s most up-to-date software, Luminar 4, already packs some AI-based features (including a popular sky-replacement option). But Luminar AI promises to take AI editing to the next level, opening up advanced post-processing effects to a much larger audience.

Will Luminar AI do everything for you?

It doesn’t seem like it. As Skylum explains, you have to make creative choices; Luminar AI will do a lot of editing work for you, but you’ll remain at the helm.

As for the Luminar AI release:

The date is currently unknown, but Skylum promises a “holiday season” release. I’d expect an early December debut, though mid-December or late November certainly isn’t out of the question.

In terms of price, you can currently preorder Luminar AI for a discounted rate:

$74 USD for a standard copy of Luminar AI, or $139 USD to download both Luminar AI and Luminar 4.

So if Luminar AI’s simple approach to editing appeals to you, make sure you take a look while the discount still lasts! You can view the software here.

Now over to you:

What do you think about Luminar AI? Do you like the idea of AI-based editing? Or does it feel like cheating? And will you purchase the program? Share your thoughts in the comments!