Microsoft has released their version of an AI image maker (like Dall-E) called, imaginatively, Bing Image Creation. We’ll explain how to access and use the preview with some examples of freshly made images and how the Content Warning/Block works.
All these images are original, made by Bing Image Creation from a text description like ‘Woman with laptop in office with window’. These image making tools can be used to add something original to PowerPoint slides, Word documents or emails for special occasions like birthdays.
Already using Bing Image Creation? … check out how to get better results with Bing Image Creation
Get Started
Go to https://www.bing.com/images/create and sign-in with a Microsoft account. No special plan is needed, Image Creation is available to all comers.
To get started you can type a description into the box above the ‘Creations’ tab.
Unlike other services, Bing defaults to a photo-realistic (ish) image if no style is requested.
Explore Ideas
If you’re new to AI image making, try the Explore Ideas tab which has some examples to try or a set of pull-downs to select adjective, noun, verb and a style.
Making an image
However you make an image, Bing will offer four pictures. All are saved in the ‘Recent’ list at right.
AI image making takes a lot of computing power so Microsoft is rationing it’s use. You start with 10 image requests with higher priority aka ‘Boosts’, see the yellow circle to right of the text box. More boosted requests can be available using any Microsoft Reward points you might have (see the number top-right).
Without any boosts, you can still ask for images but they’ll take longer to make, after a 30 second wait.
500 Microsoft Rewards points can be exchanged for a mere five boosts.
Boosts are ‘refreshed’ each week.
Save or Download
Click on any image to see a larger version, download it to your computer or save it online.
Share – copy a link to that image.
Save – saves the image to Bing ‘Saved Images’, there’s a link to that area.
Download – downloads the image to your computer in JPG format.
Surprisingly, there’s no integration with Microsoft OneDrive. We expected ‘Save’ to go to OneDrive not yet another online location or for all images (in the Recent list) to go to a special OneDrive folder (like Voice notes and Transcripts do). Hopefully that’s on the Microsoft To Do list.
Each image has a little Bing ‘bug’ in bottom left corner which is easily cropped out.
Content Block
Most AI systems stop attempts to make images of a specific person. So these requests get a ‘Content Block’ according to Microsoft’s broad content policy.
We tried “Joe Biden sitting behind a desk in the Oval Office” and wasn’t surprised to see this:
It was surprising that Bing accepted requests for copyrighted characters
Here’s “Bugs Bunny conducting an orchestra”, though not a great rendering of the Rascally Rabbit. Perhaps Microsoft might be getting a letter from Warner Bros?
And perhaps also a stern letter from Disney Legal because we made images of both Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck conducting an orchestra
Bypassing the content block
Using generic wording might get something close to what you want. Instead of saying “Joe Biden” we described an “Old man with short white hair, suit and blue tie, sitting behind a desk in the Oval Office”
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