Generating images using AI is fun, and occasionally even useful, but the image generation typically happens on a server someone else controls. If you’d rather have a native Mac application for the job—one that works entirely offline, making it completely private—DiffusionBee is what you’re looking for.
This Mac-only application can download AI models for generating images, then run those models entirely on your computer. Generating only takes a few seconds on Apple Silicon devices; older Intel-based Macs are also supported but image creation takes longer—around five minutes in my tests.
Credit: Justin Pot
The application offers a number of different AI tools you can use—everything from generating an image from text to modifying existing images. You’ll need to download models before you can do anything, and those models will take up a few GB on your computer.
The text-to-image generator is perhaps the most straightforward: Just type what you want and you’ll end up with it. You can also provide an image and ask for it to be redone using a text prompt. The results are obviously always dead-on, in exactly the way you’d expect from an AI tool (which my sarcastic way of saying that you might need to try a few different prompts before you get the results you want.)
Sometimes you’re going to have to re-try a few times with a slightly different prompt.
Credit: Justin Pot
Other functionality includes the ability to remove objects from photos, the ability to create optical illusions, and the ability to upscale low-resolution images. It’s essentially an AI image-making playground, and it’s completely free, so give it a shot if you’ve got a Mac.
