Microsoft Reveals Generative AI Upgrades To Paint And Notepad

In the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) numerous software applications that were once the go-to tools have found themselves being viewed as outdated tools and thereby rendered obsolete.

While Microsoft’s Paint isn’t necessarily considered an application that’s used for design, it was a starting point for many users. Sure, the tool came to use in some situations, even if it offered limited capabilities.

Of course, there was not much point in providing major updates for the tool as the graphic designing and photo manipulation sector already had a fan-favorite leader in the form of Adobe.

Photoshop became more than just a brand name owned by Adobe, it became synonymous with editing or manipulating images, video, audio and more. This is why it made sense for Adobe to ensure all its platforms offered the latest in technology.

As the world admired and reveled in the powerful capabilities that GenAI brought, Adobe stepped up and infused numerous generative features and functions across its vast portfolio of products.

At this point, there are probably a handful of platforms and tools across various industries that haven’t been optimized by AI or GenAI.

It’s reached a place where even Microsoft’s Paint is getting an AI makeover.

AI In Microsoft Paint

In a blog post published on its website, Microsoft revealed it is bringing generative fill capabilities to Paint. Essentially, users can make edits and additions to their images using simple text prompts.

This new and powerful creative tool is meant to make the artistic process more fun and intuitive and can be used by seasoned artists or experimenting hobbyists.

It’s quite simple to use—users need to pick the Selection tool and create a rectangle in which they wish to see the magic happen. The text prompt needed is inserted into a pop-up box that appears upon selection. If the user is unhappy with the results, they can simply hit the retry button.


On the flip side, Microsoft is also bringing a generative erase feature, which can remove objects in pictures and make it as though they weren’t ever there.

Here, users can manually brush over one or multiple areas of the canvas to select the content they wish to remove.

As per the blog post, Generative erase is available to users on all Windows 11 PCs.

However, this isn’t Paint’s first foray into AI capabilities. A year ago, the company launched Image Creator in Paint, which is now being made available to users from additional markets.

Currently available in preview to Windows 11 users in the United States, France, UK, Canada, Italy and Germany, the till will now be made available to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family and Copilot Pro subscribers in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

Microsoft also revealed updates to Cocreator, which allows users to create amazing artwork with the help of AI.

It comes with improvements in its underlying diffusion-based model and built-in moderation, enabling it to deliver better results faster. This is available on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs.


The refurbishment lineup consists of more than just Paint among the old faithful, as Microsoft’s Notepad also welcomes AI-powered updates.

AI In Windows Notepad

Microsoft is bringing the capabilities that started the global GenAI frenzy to Notepad—rephrasing sentences, adjusting its tone and modifying the length of content—through its Rewrite feature.

After users select the text they want rewritten and choose the Rewrite option, Notepad will generate three variations of the rewritten text for users to choose from.

Notepad’s availability is the same as Paint’s Image Creator.

However, the new GenAI features for Paint and Notepad are currently only available to Microsoft Windows insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels on Windows 11.

Both these channels offer users the chance to preview platform changes before they are released to customers and include major changes to the Windows kernel, new APIs, etc.


Which software application would you like to see upgraded with GenAI capabilities next?

Let us know in the comments below!