How Might Generative AI Change Digital Asset Management?

I have recently written a special feature article for DAM News on the subject of Generative AI (or ‘Synthetic Content’ as it also referred to).  In The Implications of Generative AI for Digital Asset Management I analyse what Generative AI is, look at some of the available technologies and try to anticipate the changes it may bring to the DAM market, for example:

“The need for a DAM as some huge repository of terabytes or petabytes of data (which has been the trend for DAM in the last 30 years) diminishes since fewer materials needs to be retained if asset essences were created using Generative AI – or ‘born generative’ as one might refer to it. While there will probably never be a scenario where there are no archived assets at all in DAMs, Generative AI potentially impacts one of the big fundamental trends in-play in DAM which has driven their adoption thus far – the ever increasing volume of binary data that has to be stored, catalogued and archived.” [Read More]

One of the more direct changes which Generative AI will bring when/if it becomes integrated with DAMs is the ability to easily apply transformations to existing images, that go way beyond the basic cropping and re-sizing facilities which most modern DAMs now include.  Further, the interface to provide these modifications is a straightforward natural language text-based input:

“The adjustments can be initiated (within the DAM itself) using a text interface, e.g. ‘change this scene so it is a sunny day with blue sky’.   Further, the fact they were carried out can be automatically logged so there is full transparency about how the asset got changed, by whom and when.” [Read More]

Generative AI tool vendor, Bria have provided me with a few images to illustrate what is possible.

Based on what I have heard from others, the topic of Generative AI was barely discussed at all in any of the recent round of DAM conferences.  Despite this, it seems impossible to imagine that this will not have a radical and dramatic transformative effect on how DAM systems are used.  To my mind, it puts the whole sector on a convergence trend with creative tools like Photoshop since tasks that would once have required manual re-touching could potentially be done in the DAM instead.

This seems to be a development which the DAM market (and many of its self-appointed ‘leaders’, in particular) have not paid much attention to.  For that reason, if you are involved in DAM (in any capacity) Generative AI is a subject you might want to better acquaint yourself with.

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