Creating stunning visuals is no longer the preserve of skilled artists or designers — anyone with the right AI tool can do it.
From designing personal logos and social media content to exploring creative ideas, AI software has significantly transformed how we approach image creation.
Open AI’s GPT 4o, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot have emerged as the leading AIs for image creation. Despite all being backed by big corporations, each has its own quirks and unique features. Which AI image generator is truly the best? Let’s take a look.
Top 3 AIs for image creation: An overview
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s take a look at the basic details about these visual AI heavyweights.
GPT-4o
GPT-4o, the latest publicly available large language model (LLM) from OpenAI, builds on the success of its predecessors with a twist — it’s got eyes.
GPT 4o’s enhanced Vision feature allows it to understand an image due to its quick manner of data extraction once you upload an image. It can easily analyze visual content, interpret images, and respond based on what it “sees.”
This multimodal piece of software combines the language prowess of GPT-4 with the industry-leading visual capabilities of DALL-E, for advanced image understanding and generation capabilities.
What makes it special: It’s been trained on a vast dataset of images and text, allowing it to understand context from complex prompts and create images that are not just visually appealing but also relevant to the input.
Google Gemini
Google’s Gemini is the tech giant’s answer to the growing demand for multimodal AI. While its text analysis and recognition abilities have received praise for reaching human-expert levels, the Gemini family is much bigger than that.
The visual arm of Gemini provides the same level of integration with the text side of the LLM as GPT-4o, but OpenAI’s head start is still noticeable. Google’s AI makes more mistakes and is significantly more censored.
What makes it special: Gemini is designed to seamlessly integrate language, image, and video understanding. Due to its training on Google’s datasets, the model excels at generating visuals that require a deep understanding of real-world concepts.
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft Copilot is frequently confused with the more popular GPT 4o, and not without reason. Copilot is built on the latest iteration of GPT due to Microsoft’s contract with OpenAI, but with additional tweaks and enhancements.
Like GPT-4o, Copilot’s image creation capabilities are powered by DALL-E, which Microsoft has fine-tuned for business and productivity use.
What makes it special: Copilot mainly targets business customers, which means this iteration of DALL-E provides better integration with Microsoft’s OS and suite of tools. For general use, however, you’re probably better off sticking to the version within GPT-4o.
What’s the easiest visual AI to use?
GPT-4o’s interface is clean and minimalist, much like its predecessors. Users interact with it primarily through a chat-like interface. However, this simplicity is a double-edged sword — it’s straightforward for basic use, but anything more complex requires effort. In particular, you must know:
- Prompting if you have complex requests
- Prompt chaining for elaborate workflows and process
- All the plugins if you want to maximize the LLM for specific use cases
Gemini’s interface is intuitive, with a good balance of simplicity and functionality. It integrates smoothly with other Google services, with an unexpected option to build your own integrations. The image generator, despite being more limited, is more interactive, with options to refine and adjust on the fly.
Last but not least, Copilot’s integration into familiar Microsoft environments makes it feel like a natural extension of tools you’re already using. The interface is polished, Microsoft-like, and context-aware, adapting to whether you’re in Word, PowerPoint, or using it standalone.
GPT 4o vs. Google Gemini vs. MS Copilot: Which AI generates the best images?
While unique features and ease of use are the top priorities when choosing regular software, visual AI models aren’t your run-of-the-mill apps. As a result, you should mainly focus on output quality, as it’s easier to ‘wrangle’ a capable AI than it is to make do with an incapable one.
With that being said, let’s take a look at how GPT 4o, Gemini, and Copilot stack up in these key categories:
Resolution and detail
GPT-4o impresses with its ability to generate high-resolution images that can help your brand stand out online. The level of detail is often striking, with the AI capturing intricate textures and subtle nuances that can make images feel almost photorealistic when that’s the intent. This attention to detail extends to image recognition. It can analyze complex visual data with remarkable accuracy, such as reading a bank statement, analyzing and identifying trends on stock market charts, or even interpreting medical imagery like X-rays.
Gemini matches GPT-4o in terms of resolution but has a slight edge in maintaining clarity and sharpness at this resolution, especially in complex scenes with multiple elements.
Copilot, on the other hand, really shines in document summarizing and the sheer crispness of text within images — a boon for creating infographics or meme-style content.
Color accuracy, vibrancy, and creativity
GPT-4o excels at producing vibrant, eye-catching images. Its rich and saturated color palette works wonderfully for artistic and illustrative styles, although it does struggle with photorealism. In terms of creativity, GPT-4o often surprises with unexpected interpretations of prompts, which means you have to be precise and persistent with your prompts, as noted by OpenAI themselves.
Gemini stands out for its color accuracy, especially in recreating real-world scenes. It has a good grasp of color relationships and natural lighting, resulting in images that feel grounded and realistic. The Google Images influences is obvious here.
Copilot strikes a nice balance between vibrancy and accuracy. It’s particularly good at adapting its style to the context, producing punchy, vibrant images for creative projects and more subdued, professional-looking visuals for business contexts.
Third-party integrations: Which visual AI works best with other software?
Visual AI models are powerful tools on their own, but their true power lies in integrations with various popular software. All three platforms we’re discussing today have their own APIs but also take clearly different stances on how their product works with other apps.
GPT-4o
By far the most popular with and most welcoming towards third-party devs, GPT-4o has plugins for popular design tools like Adobe Creative Suite and Figma. These integrations allow designers to generate images and have even resulted in the collaboration between OpenAI and Adobe.
Beyond that, GPT-4o has by far the best ecosystem of official integrations, with countless software platforms and organizations adopting DALL-E’s capabilities for their users’ specific needs.
On top of all that, OpenAI’s robust API allows developers to build custom applications that leverage GPT-4o’s image-generation capabilities. This has kept the likes of Meta, Microsoft, and Google all playing catch-up when it comes to establishing a functioning AI plugin and integration marketplace.
Google Gemini
Somewhat expected, Google leveraged its gargantuan suite of professional tools and effectively accelerated and facilitated working with each one. In particular, you can use Gemini in:
- Google Workspace: Gemini integrates smoothly with Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets. Users can generate images, create data visualizations, or get design suggestions without leaving these applications.
- Google Cloud Platform: For developers and enterprises, this integration allows for scalable, cloud-based image generation solutions.
- Android ecosystem: Gemini’s capabilities are being baked into various Android applications, from the Google Photos app to the Google Search app, making AI-powered image creation and editing accessible on mobile devices.
- Third-party Integrations: While not as extensive as GPT-4o, Gemini is gaining traction among third-party developers, and the community expects more integrations with popular creativity tools in the future.
The bottom line: if Google software is an integral part of your handling of business intelligence, the Gemini integrations work just fine. If you’re venturing outside the ecosystem, the already limited Gemini becomes even more limited.
Microsoft Copilot
While OpenAI is best for third-party plugins, and Google leverages both the community and its own suite of tools, Microsoft decided to one-up both with Copilot’s staggering amount of integrations, highlighted by:
- Microsoft 365: Copilot can generate images directly in Word, PowerPoint, and OneNote, understanding the context of your document to create relevant visuals.
- Windows OS: The somewhat controversial Windows 11 integration allows users to generate images system-wide, from the desktop to various applications.
- Azure: For developers and enterprises, Copilot’s integration with Azure allows for customized, scalable AI solutions that include image generation capabilities.
- Power Platform: Copilot’s features are accessible through Microsoft’s Power Platform, allowing for no-code and low-code integration into business processes and applications.
- Third-party software: Microsoft’s strong relationships with other software vendors have led to Copilot integrations with popular tools like Salesforce, Adobe Creative Cloud, and more.
Which is the best AI image creator?
GPT-4o, with its creative prowess and flexibility, is perfect for those pushing the boundaries of digital art, while Google Gemini strikes a balance between realism and integration. Meanwhile, Microsoft Copilot works seamlessly with Office and Windows and is best suited for creating high-quality business visuals.
Ultimately, the right choice boils down to your unique needs, workflow, and the ecosystems you call home. If you’re still undecided, take each of the three AI powerhouses for a spin, play around, experiment, and see which one clicks with your creative spirit.
If you’ve experimented with AI image generation tools and have a favorite, let us know in the comments.
