Tech Trends

New Generative AI Tool Helps Create Designs and Images

Generative AI is not only limited to conversation, but can also extend to other areas of personal creativity and expression. Microsoft Designer is a new generative AI tool that helps users create impressive designs and images from written prompts.

Microsoft Designer is a web application that is free to use during its preview period. A paid Microsoft 365 subscription is required to use certain features after the preview period ends and to save previous designs. To get started, all users need to do is provide a prompt and the application starts assisting in the design process. From the prompt, users are presented with generated design templates based on their specifications. Users can choose a suggested template or skip it altogether and start with a blank design. Once a design template is chosen, users are presented with the main interface that contains many useful buttons on the left side. The “Templates” button is selected whenever users need to apply a new or choose a different template design. The “My media” button allows users to upload their files to include in their designs. The “Visuals” button gives users the ability to include recommended graphics, photos, videos or DALL-E generated images from a prompt into their design. The “Text” button enables users to generate any kind of text from a prompt to include into their design or copy to the clipboard. The “Brand Kit” button brings AI-powered design suggestions for color palette and font selections. All elements in the design layout are layered and customizable. As users continue working on their designs, an ideas sidebar on the right side continuously updates to provide other inspirations or suggestions to choose from. When designs are complete, users can download their project in any of the popular image or video formats, copy a URL of the project to the clipboard, or send the project to their phone via generated QR code. There is also an option to try to use AI to generate captions and hashtags with a prompt if the design is intended for posting to social media. This simple web application contains all the features needed for most people to create unique designs and images easily with personalized assistance.

-Hubert Chan, DDS

AI Tool Creates Videos from Text

As artificial intelligence (AI) use expands, more and more sophisticated tools are available to the common user. Arriving at the forefront of this current wave is a new generation of generative AI that focuses on video capabilities. The most of impressive these capabilities is for an AI to create videos from text, and one of the few offerings of this service comes from Runway, a startup founded by three NYU students in 2018. This review utilized the free tier of Runway’s service on an iPhone 14 Pro.

Runway bills itself as an “everything you need to make anything you want.” After creating an account, iOS users are greeted with a gallery of what other creators have made with the application. From short films about curious rabbits to sweeping otherworldly landscapes, Runway does an excellent job of showcasing itself from the outset. At the bottom of the screen are three buttons: Home, Library and a magic wand. The magic wand leads to the “Create” area of the application, which guides users through text/image to video feature or their video editing feature. Text or image to video is as easy as it sounds: upload a photo, describe the output, and Runway will create a video from the available information provided. The results can be disjointed as the quality of video is highly dependent on the prompt. For example, a picture of a running stream results in an excellent panning video that follows the water downstream; however, a picture of a sleeping cat results in a bizarre video where the cat’s head morphs into its tail. Text prompts and video editing can both be similarly unpredictable. Thankfully, users get a chance to preview the proposed video before fully committing to the project. When the generated video gets exported, credit on the user’s account is deducted. Free users start out with 125 credits, which will generate up to 25 seconds of video. Overall, the results are hit or miss, but when they are a hit, they can be truly inspiring. The free tier of Runway is an interesting thought experiment and good diversion, but use in the dental field appears to be limited as Runway will appeal most to content creators looking to get some additional footage without having to recreate an entire set or shoot.

-Alexander Lee, DMD