[CA] Q&A with the eCommerce team: Create high-quality images with AI and Square Photo Studio

[Tom]

Make your product and menu images pop with Square Photo Studio and AI backgrounds!

We are thrilled to welcome back @johnobc from the Square eCommerce team for another Q&A event on November 14. This discussion will focus on the latest update, which allows you to create AI-powered backgrounds for your item library images.

Here are the latest features now available on the Square Photo Studio app since our last discussion:

• Hyperreal AI-generated backgrounds for item photos with AI environments
• More than 50 style prompts that give you the flexibility to match your brand
• Select, download, and add multiple AI images to the same item

We're looking forward to hearing your questions, feedback, and updates on how your experience is going so far.

To participate, post your questions to this thread and check back on Thursday, December 7, at 1:00 p.m. PST / 4:00 p.m. EST as @johnobc responds.

Not sure what to ask? Here are a few example questions:

• What are the top things to keep in mind for getting the best image quality using this app?
• How does the AI work and are there ways I can make it work better?
• How do you suggest using the AI images?

Note: We can't share specific details on our product roadmaps, though this information will be helpful as we continue to make improvements.

This feature within the Square Photo Studio is powered by a third-party partner and by using this feature you acknowledge that you are subject to its applicable license and agree to comply with any use restrictions.

Click Reply below to post a question ahead of time, and we’ll address as many posts as we can on Tuesday, November 14!👇

[#2]

Hello Community Members — I'm sorry for the short notice — our Q&A session has a new date: Thursday, December 7 at 1:00 p.m. PST / 4:00 p.m. EST. We apologize for the delay as we're working to release the latest product features to all of our customers.

Thank you for your patience, we can't wait to chat with you all!

Talk soon,

Tom

[S2uareuser99]

As a small business owner who happens to also be an artist, I couldn't dislike a feature like this more. AI generated art plagiarizes image data from real, human artists. This is a serious matter that should not be taken lightly by Square as a platform and brand.

Until proper regulations are put into place to protect original IP made by artists, I refuse to adopt a feature like this, and I will heavily weigh this negative attribute when I am making decisions about which commerce solutions I want to support in the future as my business grows. 

[johnobc]

We hear you and appreciate this feedback. Our Photo Studio app is designed to make it easier for sellers to create extraordinary purchasing experiences for their customers in a competitive landscape, and we’re working with trusted partners to help sellers leverage AI tools that support Sellers’ success and protect their IP.

[SPOOKYSPARKLE]

Yeah, it's wild to see Square try to roll this out to a community largely made up of indie artists and craftspeople. Did you not think we'd be upset that you're advertising AI generated content to us as a feature? 

How can you guarantee that the model your generating backgrounds from is ethically sourced? How can you guarantee that our works will not be sold and scraped for future iterations without our consent? 

[johnobc]

Thanks so much for the feedback, we definitely hear your concerns. Our Photo Studio app is designed to make it easier for small business owners who aren’t as artistically inclined to present their products in a competitive way, and we’re working with trusted partners to help sellers leverage AI tools that support Sellers’ success while ensuring content generated within the Photo Studio app will neither train AI models or be sold or scraped without consent.

[QTA_Canada]

Yes, wondering how the images are generated, how do we know that they have been ethically sourced? And how do I know that none of the images that I have in my account will be used?

[johnobc]

Thanks for the question. We’re working with trusted partners to make it easier for sellers to leverage AI tools to create extraordinary experiences for their buyers. Our Photo Studio app is designed to ensure that Seller images are not used or sent to any third parties outside of Square to train AI models.

[Stitchsisters]

The ethics as to why Ai in art is problematic aside, I hate how much Square is pushing this app when it doesn't even accommodate Android users. We wanna take product pics too 😒

[johnobc]

Thanks so much for the feedback and for your interest in using the app on Android. We are exploring ways to help bring some of the Photo Studio experiences to surfaces outside of iPhones but we can't give firm ETAs. It is definitely still top of mind for us however!

[SlashSports]

Any talks of making the photo studio app capable of adding photos to variations and not just the "parent" item?  I personally like the app and its ability to remove backgrounds and easily add photos to items, but it's super frustrating that you can't add photos to variations.

[johnobc]

That's great feedback and totally makes sense. We'll look into adding this. Let us know if there's anything else you'd like here.

[Wstyle]

Hi ! Can I create a Logo with this ?

[johnobc]

Thanks for the question! Unfortunately you can't make a logo with the Photo Studio app but it's a fun/interesting idea. 

[Tom]

Hello Community Members — I'm sorry for the short notice — our Q&A session has a new date: Thursday, December 7 at 1:00 p.m. PST / 4:00 p.m. EST. We apologize for the delay as we're working to release the latest product features to all of our customers.

Thank you for your patience, we can't wait to chat with you all!

Talk soon,

Tom