You Might Not Like Paint’s Latest Feature in Windows 11
If you’re frustrated with generative AI features creeping into every corner of Windows, we have some bad news. Microsoft is adding yet another AI feature to Paint in Windows 11, intended to help you redesign images in different styles.
Windows Paint version 11.2509.441.0 is now rolling out to computers enrolled in Windows Insiders Updates, in the Canary, Dev, and Beta channels on Windows 11. It includes a new feature called Restyle, which creates new generative AI images based on open image design.
Restyle is a new option in Paint’s Copilot menu. You choose a style, click the Generate button, and you get a new image that you can add to your Paint canvas or save separately. Microsoft hasn’t provided a full list of styles, but one of them is a “Pop art” style.
We’ve seen many other tools introduce similar modes, like ChatGPT Plus. You may remember the flood of Studio Ghibli-style images from earlier this year. Apple Intelligence’s Image Playground feature can also redesign the images you provide in different styles.
A blog post explains: “In this update, we introduce Restyle, an AI-powered feature that lets you transform the artistic style of images on the canvas. To get started, open Paint and select the Restyle option from the Copilot menu. Choose from a list of predefined styles and select the Generate button. Once the restyled images are generated, you can click the Add to Canvas button, copy them or save them for later use.
Now that Microsoft is integrating this feature into Paint, people who want it won’t necessarily need to open ChatGPT or another similar tool. For the rest of us, however, this is another Windows AI feature that doesn’t need to be there. Paint received many nice improvements in Windows 11, like more brushes and layer support, but a built-in AI slope generator is much less useful. If the last couple of years are anything to go by, there will likely be pop-ups and other prompts to encourage people to try the feature, which will add to the annoyance.
This is the latest in a long line of AI art generation features, which were originally intended to use DALL-E, but now fall under “Image Creator”. Most features run in the cloud and cost AI credits on your Microsoft account, but some options may run locally on the current PC, depending on your hardware. Restyle only appears to be available on Snapdragon-equipped Copilot+ PCs, at least for now, and requires signing in with a Microsoft account.
The new Restyle feature is limited to the Windows 11 Canary, Dev, and Beta channels, but is expected to roll out to all Windows 11 PCs in the near future.
Source: Windows Blog
