A Beginner's Guide: How to Use AI in Photoshop

By Lucas Vuong - Digital Marketing & Growth Strategy Lead, Pixel Commerce Studio

December 10, 2025

New to Photoshop's AI? This beginner's guide walks you through the essential tools like Generative Fill and Generative Expand, making powerful image editing simple.

Node-based AI workflow for advanced Photoshop image creation and generative editing explained.

Before and after comparison showing AI image Outpainting extending a picnic photo canvas to add a basket and food. — Learn how to use Photoshop's AI tools to instantly expand and reimagine your photos. Insight by Kimmie Tran — Senior Graphic Design Specialist, Pixel Commerce Studio

Getting Started with Photoshop AI

If you are new to Adobe Photoshop or just new to its AI features, learning how to use AI in Photoshop can seem daunting. However, Adobe has made its AI tools incredibly intuitive, even for beginners. By understanding a few core features, you can immediately begin to harness the power of AI to create stunning images. Furthermore, these features are designed to simplify complex tasks, allowing you to achieve professional-looking results with minimal effort.

A side-by-side comparison of two young women sitting on a red blanket in a park. The AI Outpainting (right) seamlessly extends the scene to include a picnic basket, bread, and fruits. — Generate unique, dramatic images using the Text to Image AI feature in Photoshop.

First and foremost, make sure you have the latest version of Photoshop. The AI features, powered by Adobe Firefly, are constantly being updated, so it is important to have the most recent version to access all the new tools. After you open a new or existing image, you will notice a "Contextual Task Bar" that appears whenever you make a selection. This taskbar is your key to accessing the AI tools.

Official Adobe Firefly homepage screenshot, showing the platform that brings generative AI tools directly to Adobe Photoshop. — Adobe Firefly generative AI capabilities are now fully integrated into Photoshop for advanced creative work.

Next, a great starting point is the Generative Fill feature. Use the Lasso Tool or any other selection tool to select an area of your image. A taskbar will appear with a "Generative Fill" button. You can then type a text prompt to describe what you want to add to that area. For example, if you have a picture of a park, you can select an empty spot and type "a picnic blanket with a basket of food." The AI will then generate a new object that blends in with your image. Most importantly, it gives you three variations to choose from.

Example of AI Generative Fill technology, demonstrating how text prompts instantly transform images for seamless Photoshop editing. — How Generative Fill works: using AI text prompts for seamless Photoshop editing.

Furthermore, another essential tool is Generative Expand. This feature is perfect for resizing your images. Use the Crop Tool and drag the handles to expand the canvas beyond the original borders. The taskbar will then show a "Generative Expand" button. Clicking this button will automatically fill in the blank space with content that seamlessly matches your original photo. This is incredibly useful for changing a landscape photo to a portrait orientation, for example.

Screenshot from Adobe.com detailing AI in Photoshop: Generative Fill with Reference Image and seamless Generative Expand functionality. — Learn how to use Generative Expand and the latest Generative Fill Reference Image features in AI-powered Photoshop.

Finally, the beauty of these AI tools is that they are non-destructive. They work on separate layers, so you can always go back and adjust or delete the AI-generated content without affecting your original image. As these examples show, learning how to use AI in Photoshop is all about experimenting with these simple, yet powerful, tools to see what you can create.