Procreate, the illustration app for iPad, issued a statement on Monday highlighting that generative artificial intelligence (AI) will never be added to the software. The announcement comes at a time when Apple is going all out with its suite of generative AI offerings bundled as Apple Intelligence. The designing app also appears as an outlier among competitors such as Adobe and Canva which have heavily invested in AI tools in the last one year. Procreate also said that AI is a moral threat to human creativity.
Procreate Says No to Generative AI
In a post on its website titled “AI is not our future”, Procreate explained its stance on the technology that most tech companies have been rushing to integrate within its offerings. The post highlighted generative AI as one “built on a foundation of theft”, likely hinting at the various lawsuits against AI companies by artists, musicians, and authors alleging their copyrighted work was used to train the AI models.
The company also stated that it does not wish to chase a technology which is a “moral threat” to human creativity. Although it admitted that choosing this path would make Procreate an anomaly in the design software industry as most of its competitors have already pivoted to AI, it added that it decided to not use AI to keep the platform community-centric.
Highlighting this further, Savage Interactive, Procreate’s parent company, stated that generative AI violates company policy of providing privacy and letting the creators take ownership of their artwork.
In a separate post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Procreate CEO James Cuda highlighted his dislike for AI and also emphasised that he does not approve of the path taken by the industry in terms of integrating generative AI tools in design software.
Notably, the Procreate app for iPad can be purchased for a one-time payment of Rs. 1,299. There is also a Procreate Pocket app available for iOS in the App Store, which is priced Rs. 599 as a one-time payment.
