A new AI image generator has hit the scenes, thanks to a collaboration between AMD and a New Zealand-based AI start-up called TensorStack, that’ll allow you to generate images locally on your computer - like that little space-squirrel you can see above.
Amuse, which is the name of the new image generator for Windows, is currently available in beta and offers a more private, localized method for generating images. You’ll be able to generate AI images offline, which is huge news considering most AI image generators on the market right now require internet access as they use cloud-based technology. The local approach is aimed at reducing the risk of your information being shared and cutting down potential avenues for cyberattacks. Even better, Amuse does not require a subscription fee either - it's free to use right now.
Reporting on the new tool, ITBrief stated that “AMD is utilizing Amuse to showcase the capabilities of its latest hardware, specifically the AMD Ryzen AI 300 series processors. At the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in March, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su demonstrated the use of stable diffusion models in Amuse to create images from text prompts, running on an AMD AI PC.”
The Amuse tool also seems to offer a user-friendly interface called ‘EZ mode’ that should help newbies to the AI generation game, and from what ITBrief states, we can expect some key features like “MD XDNA Super Resolution solution, which speeds up output and increases image size by twofold.” Alongside that, we can expect paint-to-image and drawing-to-image conversion options, and the ability to create AI filters that you can use on future projects.
Offline and slaying
With Nvidia being so integral in the world of artificial intelligence right now, it’s pretty interesting to see something like this pop up from AMD. Outside the GPU market, where Nvidia still dominates, AMD’s biggest competitors in the CPU world are Intel and Qualcomm, with the latter company going all in on AI too. Perhaps this is AMD’s way of getting involved, creating its own space in the AI sphere, and providing users with a free service that none of its competitors have jumped on yet. Nvidia does have its own generative AI image tools, Picasso and Canvas, but they’re not straightforward image generators for consumers like Amuse.
Amuse being a local AI tool compared to cloud-based ones does align with AMD’s normally cautious approach to generative AI (like not using AI in FSR, its rival to Nvidia’s AI-powered DLSS upscaling software for games), and could pay off in the long run. Who doesn’t want an AI image generator that they can access right on their PC knowing they’re not putting themselves or their data at risk? Most of the best AI image generators require not just an internet connection but also an account with a subscription that you have to pay or limited tokens, so Amuse has a good chance of knocking all those generators out of the park.
If you’re a Windows user and you want to try it out, you can head over to the Amuse official website and download the app. Keep in mind that as the image generator is in beta it’s not exactly very stable and things can go wrong, so be sure to back up your PC before you start messing around with it.
