Generative AI apps that create photos, videos, songs, and more are growing in popularity. With the release of Apple's new Creator Studio Pro suite, now available to the public, the tech giant approaches AI as a tool that aids in the creative process without attempting to replace it. Apple presents a vision where future productivity tools focus on creators such as filmmakers, musicians, and artists, empowering them to work more efficiently using AI. Integrating AI into creativity is complex, especially with creators concerned about AI models training on their works and producing similar content. Apple, however, views AI as a tool for handling basic and tedious tasks, like generating slideshows from notes, extracting chord information from songs, searching through video footage for specific clips, or changing camera angles on images.
The tools in Creator Studio Pro are not new but have now been packaged as a subscription product, priced at $12.99 per month or $129 per year. The subscription includes Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Compressor for video editing; Logic Pro and Mainstage for music creation; image editing tool Pixelmator Pro; and exclusive features in Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform. It also includes the newly launched Pixelmator Pro app for iPad. While Apple's traditional productivity software lags behind competitors like Google and Microsoft, the company has excelled in creative fields. With AI features, Apple aims to make its creative software more accessible to non-professionals, such as indie musicians, artists looking to improve marketing, or social media content creators.
Whether Apple's tools are suitable compared to Adobe products depends on user needs and familiarity with professional creative tools. Each tool in the suite has received upgrades with this launch. Key AI features include Final Cut Pro's AI-powered transcript and visual search, beat detection, and Montage Maker on iPad. Logic Pro offers Chord ID for analyzing audio to extract chords and an AI-powered loop library. Pixelmator Pro for Mac and iPad includes AI features like Super Resolution and Auto Crop, along with new tools like Liquid Glass design and Warp. Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform gain premium templates, an image and graphic library called Content Hub, and AI-powered image generation and remixing. Keynote specifically adds AI tools to create slideshows from text notes and generate presenter notes. Numbers uses AI to analyze spreadsheet patterns and suggest table contents with Magic Fill. Apple will continue offering its creativity apps as standalone downloads, with updates available for existing users. Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform remain free, but premium features require a subscription.
This approach differs from competitors like Adobe, allowing users to purchase apps outright. Apple also enables Family Sharing for up to five members, a feature not offered by Adobe, and allows subscription cancellation without penalty. However, Adobe remains a strong competitor with its detailed tools available on iOS. Some AI features use Apple Intelligence, running locally on devices, while others involve third parties like OpenAI for advanced image generation and slides. Creator Studio's AI features are processed on-device or use a private relay to anonymize traffic, ensuring user content remains private and is not used for AI training.
