The best AI photo editing software

There's a good reason for seeking out the best AI photo editing software. Artificial intelligence has the power to transform digital content creation with the press of a button. With more software companies adding or switching to machine learning, users can be focused on the creative output rather than needing to spend hours on the tedious manual tasks commonplace in editing apps.

Here, we take a look at the top AI-powered photo editing software, all of which should be perfect for designers, photographers, photo editors and digital artists. These programs can perform previously laborious functions with just a tap of a button, such as removing backgrounds, changing emotions in portraits or altering the weather.

There are currently many different styles of AI image editing software available. Some try to do it all, while others remain niche, so check out which one is right for you with our selection of the best AI photo editing software. If you want something more traditional, see our comprehensive guides to best standard photo editing software. Making a film? Try our pick of the best video editing software.

Previously, we considered Skylum’s Luminar AI app to be the best AI photo editor. Now, Skylum has a successor in the form of Luminar Neo, and it it’s established itself as the new AI editor to beat.

Artificial intelligence is woven right through Luminar Neo’s fabric, and there are tools to replace skies, enhance your landscapes, touch up portraits, and much more, all with the help of the app’s top tier AI smarts.

But it offers much more than that. It’s a full-fledged photo editor in its own right, with all the tools you need to take your images to the next level. There are pro-level presets, layers, masking and local adjustments, plus an absolutely bucketful of features to make photo editing a breeze.

Adobe has been integrating AI tools into Photoshop for a few years now, and it recently announced the introduction of its own generative AI assistant called Firefly. That means you can whip up illustrations and font effects simply by entering a few text prompts, with Firefly doing the rest.

And of course, Photoshop is already a world-class photo editor even without its AI additions. But with them added to its arsenal, it has a strong claim to being the best AI photo enhancer around.

Topaz Labs offers a full suite of AI-powered image editing software that covers a range of image corrections including image masking, sharpening, removing noise, and image enlargement for increased editing control over details. It even features a unique application to convert JPEG to RAW files to extend the capability of the editing software and remove issues such as banding, compression artefacts and can increase dynamic range. The software is powerful and useful for all photographers, with Topaz Lab's Video Enhance AI software also helpful for filmmakers that wish to upscale their video content up to 600 per cent while maintaining or enhancing the quality.

Corel's Paintshop Pro features a range of excellent image editing tools thanks to the new addition of AI and machine learning. Upsample low resolution files (or smaller crops within photos) to high resolution photos whilst maintaining good depth, clarity and sharpness in images. The AI Denoise tool works to remove extreme noise in photos with integrated sliders for improved customisation over its intensity. Paintshop Pro can also use AI to stylise photos into works of art instantly with the new unique preset styles that come with the software. It's a good all-round software for photographers, designers and artists alike who want to take their photos to the next level.

Remove.bg does exactly what it says in its name: it removes backgrounds. In a matter of seconds, users can upload their photo and have the background removed with fantastic accuracy, even better than expensive competitors in this list, and provide a clean photo to download in high resolution. There's a basic editing function to restore or erase parts of the mask, and the site even offers a variety of free backdrops on which to set your newly masked subject against. 

Users that need backgrounds removed quickly and without fuss should seriously consider Remove.bg, even if they already own or subscribe to professional image editing software.

Sometimes, you only need to perform a few quick tweaks to your photos, but doing so can get tedious. PhotoRoom is a good solution, as it offers a bunch of quick-and-dirty AI editing tools that handle the small stuff in seconds.

Many of its tools revolve around background editing, from removing backgrounds, placing your images against a white backdrop (great for product shots), blurring the background and more. It’s also got a handy Instant Retouch tool that lets you remove objects for cleaner images.

PhotoRoom works on iOS and Android, and there’s also a web app so you can edit on your computer.

Imagen is a standalone app and Adobe Lightroom plugin that learns from your previous photo edits and applies that knowledge to batches of your images, saving you tons of time without butchering your style. That makes it a handy assistant if you need to edit a large number of pictures at once.

You start by uploading your photo edited photos to the plugin, or you can pick a “Talent AI Profile” to adopt the style of a different professional photographer. It then gets to work, applying your own editing techniques (or those of the Talent AI Profile) to your shots. You then review the edits and can make adjustments, before finalising the changes.

That could save you hours of editing time in the long run. And because it learns from the way you like to edit your own images, Imagen helps retain your style instead of simply bulldozing over it.

If you need an image editing app for your smartphone that uses AI to polish your portraits and selfies, look no further than Lensa. The one-touch editing function, named Magic Correction, analyses photos and then applies automatic adjustments based on the photo. For example, in a portrait Magic Correction may blur the background, retouch the face and change hair colour. All the options that this auto function applies can also be manually controlled using sliders throughout the app. Alternatively, you can simply use the advanced editing tools to make adjustments to images to refine shots exactly how you want them.