Picsart's 'Replace My Ex' is the most savage AI art tool yet

AI art is arguably the most contentious topic in the world of art and design right now. For every seemingly innocuous image of a bird with human hands, there's a debate over the ethics and copyright issues surrounding the tech. But hey, at least now you can replace your ex with a snake!

Picsart, one of our best graphic design tools, has revealed Replace My Ex – a novel application of its fairly standard AI Replace tool. In various examples, ex-partners are transformed into snakes, red flags and, er, baguettes.

Picsart AI Replace

(Image credit: Picsart)

"We’ve all been there," Picsart says. "You have a photo where you look super cute, but it’s tainted by the presence of someone no longer in your life. You’d rather not see or think about them, but don’t necessarily want to delete the hundreds (or even thousands) of photos you have together. Whether it’s your ex-boyfriend, ex-girlfriend or just ex-friend, Picsart’s AI Replace allows you to replace people in photos with virtually anything you can think of. It’s super easy and can be done in just a few seconds with no design skills required."

Picsart AI replace

(Image credit: Picsart)

Currently available on iOS only, AI Replace lets the user describe brush over an object, then describe in words what they wish to replace it with ("i.e. a snake, a red flag, a dog, a burrito"). 

Picsart AI replace

(Image credit: Picsart)

But it's essential to note that for many, AI generated art isn't simply fun and games. As well as questions surrounding its existential threat to artists, there are issues over copyright. Recently, hugely popular AI app Lensa has been accused of spitting out AI "art" with evidence of the original artists' signature still visible. And then there's the issue of over-sexualised AI art.

Indeed, it seems new AI art controversies are emerging every day right now. From last month's ArtStation protests to Getty banning AI-generated images from its library over copyright concerns and people using the tools to copy specific artists' styles, the tech is causing all manner of disturbance online.

Read more:

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Daniel John
Senior News Editor

Daniel John is Senior News Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of art, design, branding and lifestyle tech (which often translates to tech made by Apple). He joined in 2020 after working in copywriting and digital marketing with brands including ITV, NBC, Channel 4 and more.