Bing Image creator is one of the best free AI image generators available today. It’s powered by the latest AI image model from OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT and produces images that are as good as or better than most of the top tier image generators available today.
We’ll explain how to use it, how much Image costs, how Creator Boosts work and what you need to know if you’re considering using the images it generates for commercial purposes.
Let’s jump right in!
Table of Contents
What are AI Image Generators?
AI image generators are cutting-edge tools that use artificial intelligence to create visual content from text descriptions. At a high level, these systems are trained on vast datasets of images and their descriptions, learning the complex patterns of how language corresponds to visual elements.
When you provide a description, the AI taps into its training to generate a new, unique image that matches your words. They offer endless possibilities to spark creativity, enabling you to visualize fantastical scenes or abstract concepts with ease.
For businesses, AI image generators can be a game-changer. They can quickly produce visuals for marketing materials, presentations, and social media content, offering a cost-effective and time-saving solution that can adapt swiftly to changing trends and needs.
If you haven’t had a chance to check them out, we recommend trying Bing Image Creator as a free introductory point to the technology, but you will want to be aware of some of its licensing limitations before using it in your daily business operations.
Bing Images Powered by OpenAI DALL-E-3
The first thing you will notice about Bing Image Generator is how great the images are that it can create. That’s because it’s powered by the DALL-E-3 AI model created by OpenAI. To access the model directly from OpenAI, you would have to pay $20 (USD) per month for a ChatGPT Plus subscription. Luckily you can access it for free directly from Microsoft.
As an example, the following image was generated by Bing in about 20 seconds using the prompt at the bottom of the image.
Prompt: cinematic shot of a whaling boat off of the coast of New England during a storm in the style of Dunkirk directed by Christopher Nolan –ar 2:1
One of the best parts of working with AI Image generation tools is that they don’t generate the same images twice. Each image is created from the ground up meaning that even with the same prompt as someone else you may see an image that is similar to one that you created, but it won’t be exactly the same.
This is also a quick way for you to create dozens of iterations of the same or similar image to test out different themes and rapid prototype design ideas before engaging with an artist, ad agency or freelancer. Typically the more defined your art direction is the less creative work will cost you.
The best way to learn about AI image generation is to try it out. Check out: Image Creator from Microsoft Bing
Here are some tips on how to use it.
How to Navigate the Bing Images Interface
If you don’t already have a Microsoft Account, you can create one for free. Once you log in, you’ll see a bar at the top for you to enter a text description of the image you want to see. These are called prompts.
There is a small lightning bolt icon to the right of the prompt entry box. This represents your image generator boosts. Because AI is so processor intensive, most AI services have limits on either how many images you can generate in a specific time period or once you hit a limit the images are generated at a slower pace.
Think of this similar to cell phone data. Once you use up all of your 5G data for a month, you will be limited to 3G speed unless you pay for extra bandwidth. Bing Images works the same way.
The right side of the screen shows a history of images that you recently created. Bing keeps a history of previous requests so you can even see the old prompt that was used to create the images as a reference point to create something similar.
The Suprise Me button auto-generates random text prompts if you aren’t sure what you want to see or just want to have some fun and see what the AI model is capable of.
When you click on an image preview, a full-size image will expand. You can Share, Save, Download, or you can Customize it further. Images are tagged with metadata to indicate that they were generated by AI.
Customize Bing AI Images with Microsoft Designer
One of the coolest products from Microsoft that most people are unaware of is Microsoft Designer. Similar to Canva, Microsoft Designer lets you take an AI image and use it as the basis for creating postcards, Instagram Posts, Pinterest Pins, flyers, birthday cards, or any other form of media where an AI generated image needs to be blended in with other elements such as formatted Text or other design elements.
The screenshot below is what you will see if you click on Customize after selecting an AI image that’s been generated. The wizard walks you through the process of turning it into a more meaningful illustration.
Microsoft Designer is currently in Preview and is a good free alternative to Canva, but lacks many of the advanced features that you would get with a more mature platform.
It’s still worth checking out, but be aware that Bing Image Creator also comes with a couple of fairly big limitations.
Bing Image Creator Resolution
Bing Image Creator is limited to generating images with a resolution of 1024 x 1024. The limitation is in line with similar tools. People looking for higher resolution images may want to explore paid services such as Midjourney or Adobe Firefly.
How Much Does Bing AI Image Creator Cost?
Bing AI Image Creator is free after signing up for a Microsoft account. Users are limited to a set number of Image Creator Boosts or tokens that represent the ability to generate images at priority speed. After using up all of your available tokens, image generation will be throttled and take longer. With a boost, an image takes about 20 seconds to generate, without boosts the generation speed is dependent on how much compute power is available. During off-peak times you may not notice much of a difference, while peak times may seem slower.
How Bing Image Creator Boosts Work
Every user starts with 100 Bing Image Creator Boosts when they sign up for Bing Image Creator. Once the initial set of 100 boosts are used up, Bing offers users the ability to redeem Microsoft Rewards Points in exchange for more boosts. If you choose not to redeem rewards points, images will generate at a slower speed that’s dependent on current demand. The pace and quantity of how quickly and how many boosts are replenished is unknown at this time.
Anecdotal evidence from users on Reddit and other online communities indicate that Microsoft has been tweaking the formula and boosts have replenished at 50 or 100 at a time at different intervals. Our guess is that Microsoft is still figuring out how to balance available compute resources with the demand of the image generation service.
As more compute power comes online and AI models advance to use less resources, the limits will likely go down but there is no way to estimate when this could happen.
Bing Image Creator for Non-Commercial Use Only
While AI is a relatively new field, it’s widely believed that AI images cannot be subject to copyright at this time but is subject to change as more challenges make their way through the court system. Where most restrictions on AI images come into play is the Terms of Service for each individual AI service. The Bing Image Creator Terms of Service state that images generated by it can only be used for non-commercial purposes. To learn more reference The New Bing – Terms of Use
If you want to generate images that are okay for commercial use, we put together a helpful guide listing all of the best image generators that allow commercial use.
Bing Image Creator vs. OpenAI ChatGPT Plus
If you’re looking to generate similar images to Bing but want a better interface and images approved for commercial use, we recommend checking out DALL-E-3 by OpenAI or Midjourney. Because the image generation engine is the same between OpenAI and Bing the results themselves will look the same. Midjourney uses a separate model and will generate different but equally stunning images.
The added benefit of using OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus service to create AI images is that it’s conversational. You can have an image generated then tell the AI to make adjustments using plain text. Adjustments will be made and a new image will be produced.
In the Bing and Midjourney style of interfaces, you will have to re-write a prompt entirely to get a new adjusted result.
Getting the Most out of AI Image Generators
Regardless of which AI image generator you use, we highly recommend checking out some videos like the one below on YouTube. There are a number of talented content creators that highlight different styles of images being created with different prompts.
These videos are a great reference point for anybody interested in getting started with AI images or even if you’ve already been using a service for some time.
Conclusion
Bing Image Creator is a fantastic free tool that gives users access to the latest AI image generation model from OpenAI. It’s a great entry point for people interested in testing out the capabilities of AI without having to pay for it. If you’re looking for a paid alternative that offers more image generations and commercial use there are many available on the market today.