Microsoft Unveils MAI-Image-1: Its First In-House AI Image Generator

You can test Microsoft's new in-house AI image generator model now - here's how

The new model will soon be available in Copilot and Bing Image Creator. Ever use Microsoft Copilot or Bing Image Creator to generate AI-based images? The models that Microsoft currently uses for this task are actually from OpenAI, specifically GPT-4o and DALL-E-3. But now Microsoft has cooked up its own image generator model as it shifts more of its AI development in house. In a blog post published Monday, Microsoft introduced its new image generator model dubbed MAI-Image-1. In training this new model, the company boasted that it strived to avoid repetitive or generic output. To assist with this goal, Microsoft solicited feedback from creative professionals. The end result should be images that more closely mirror real-world examples. "MAI-Image-1 excels at generating photorealistic imagery, like lighting (e.g., bounce light, reflections), landscapes, and much more," Microsoft said in its post. "This is particularly so when compared to many larger, slower models. Its combination of speed and quality means users can get their ideas on screen faster, iterate through them quickly, and then transfer their work to other tools to continue refining." The new model isn't accessible through Copilot or Bing Image Creator, at least not yet. But it has made its first mark by scoring in the top ten at AI leaderboard LMArena. Here, people can test and rate different AI models to grade their effectiveness. The more votes a particular model gets, the higher it appears in the rankings. As of now, MAI-Image-1 is No. 9 on the board, not a bad start for a brand new model. MAI-Image-1 is just Microsoft's latest in-house AI model now being tested. In August, the company released MAI-Voice-1 as a natural speech generation model and MAI-1-preview as a large-language model for general text generation. Like MAI-Image-1, both of these models are available for testing at LMArena. "We are committed to ensuring safe and responsible outcomes," Microsoft said about MAI-Image-1. "That has driven us to begin testing this model in LMArena so that we can gather insights and feedback. We're excited to be making MAI-Image-1 available in Copilot and Bing Image Creator very soon. For now, give it a try in LMArena and let us know what you think." To give MAI-Image-1 a whirl, browse to the image generator page at LMArena. Click the drop-down menu at the top and change the selection from Battle (which chooses the models for you) to Direct Chat. Then click the menu to select the model and set it to mai-image-1. At the prompt, type a description of the type of image you want to generate and check out what the model creates. Next, you might want to see how MAI-Image-1 compares with other image generator models. For that, click the first drop-down menu and change the selection from Direct Chat to Side by Side. Choose MAI-Image-1 as the first model if it's not already chosen. Then pick a different model for the competitor, maybe DALL-E-3 as that's the model Microsoft currently uses. Again, type a description at the prompt and see which image you prefer. The relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI had been a cozy one in the past. Microsoft kicked in much of the funds to help OpenAI develop its AIs and win a name for itself in the industry. On the flip side, OpenAI provided Microsoft with the underlying models and technology to help it integrate AI into its core products and services. Recently, though, the two companies have drifted apart. OpenAI is increasingly working with other partners, while Microsoft is bringing more of its AI expansion in house.

Microsoft AI announces first image generator created in-house

Microsoft AI just announced its first text-to-image generator, MAI-Image-1, designed and developed in-house. The tech giant, which recently announced its first in-house developed AI models, called the new image generator "the next step on our journey." Microsoft says it sought feedback from creative professionals in order to avoid "repetitive or generically-stylized outputs." MAI-Image-1 "excels" at photorealistic imagery like lightning, landscapes, and more, the company claims. And it can process requests and produce images faster than "larger, slower models." The model has already secured a spot in the top 10 of LMArena, the AI benchmark site where humans compare outputs from different systems and vote on the best one. MAI-Image-I joins Microsoft's other AI products, voice generator MAI-Voice-1 AI and chatbot MAI-1-preview. The company was an early funder of OpenAI, but the two companies' relationship has grown increasingly complicated. Microsoft is reportedly planning to use Anthropic's AI models for some features in Microsoft 365 soon. We haven't had a chance to test Microsoft's new image generator, but once we have we'll report back on its safety guardrails. The company says its committed to "ensuring safe and responsible outcomes."

Microsoft Unveils Its First Homegrown AI Image Generator

Jibin is a tech news writer based in Ahmedabad, India, who loves breaking down complex information for a broader audience. Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. Microsoft today unveiled MAI-Image-1, its first image-generation model built entirely in-house. The model is designed to add genuine value for creators and is trained to avoid repetitive or generically stylized outputs, Microsoft says. While building the model, Microsoft took feedback from creative professionals and "prioritized rigorous data selection and nuanced evaluation focused on tasks that closely mirror real-world creative use cases." The model's biggest strength lies in generating photorealistic imagery at a rapid pace, Microsoft adds. MAI-Image-1 is currently being tested in LMArena, a crowdsourced benchmarking platform that ranks AI models based on anonymous tests. We couldn't test the model, but Microsoft says it's currently among the top 10 text-to-image models on LMArena. Microsoft will integrate MAI-Image-1 into Copilot and Bing Image Creator "very soon," it says. This is the third homegrown AI model Microsoft has announced recently. The company announced its first two models, MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-1-preview, in August. MAI-Voice-1 generates an audio clip from a prompt, while MAI-1-preview is meant for text-based queries.

Microsoft debuts its first in-house AI image generator

Microsoft is continuing to roll out in-house AI models, further decreasing its reliance on long-standing partnership with OpenAI. Today, the company introduced MAI-Image-1, its first internally-developed image-generating AI model. According to the blog post, MAI-Image-1 is particularly good for creating photorealistic results, and can generate natural lighting and landscapes. For now, the model is being tested on LMArena, and Microsoft said it plans to roll out MAI-Image-1 to Copilot and its Bing Image Creator "very soon."

Microsoft's new image generator shows it's ready to go its own way on AI

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. Editor's take: This new image generator marks a significant shift in Microsoft's AI development strategy. As the company accelerates its in-house investments, it is simultaneously redefining its competitive relationship with partners such as OpenAI, positioning itself to play a more direct and influential role in shaping the next generation of artificial intelligence. Microsoft is accelerating its push to develop proprietary artificial intelligence technology with the introduction of MAI-Image-1, its first internally developed text-to-image generator. The new model has quickly attracted attention within the AI research community, earning a spot among the top 10 performers on the popular benchmarking platform LMArena. MAI-Image-1 produces realistic images and excels at capturing elements such as natural lighting, landscapes, and intricate visual details with greater accuracy than previous models, according to Microsoft. The company emphasized that a key goal of the project was to generate images that move beyond the generic, repetitive results often seen in earlier generation text-to-image systems. To achieve this, Microsoft solicited input from creative professionals during development, refining the model's artistic flexibility and minimizing derivative styles. In technical benchmarks, MAI-Image-1 demonstrated both rapid response times and strong performance in generating convincing visual content. Microsoft claims the model can handle prompts and produce images faster than many larger, more resource-intensive systems currently available. The model is still in the testing phase on LMArena, but Microsoft plans to integrate MAI-Image-1 into its Copilot assistant and the Bing Image Creator tool in the near future. The release of MAI-Image-1 comes amid Microsoft's ongoing effort to develop AI systems in-house rather than relying exclusively on OpenAI, which has long been a central partner. This strategic shift began earlier in 2025 with the introduction of two new proprietary models: MAI-Voice-1, a neural voice generator, and MAI-1-preview, an experimental language model. At the time, Microsoft AI division chief Mustafa Suleyman outlined a five-year roadmap for internal AI development, describing it as a "quarter after quarter" investment in the company's long-term capabilities. This renewed focus on proprietary technology coincides with Microsoft's continued experimentation with models from other leading AI companies, such as Anthropic. The company uses Anthropic's foundation models in some 365 features while simultaneously building its own AI systems, selecting whichever model best fits a given task for users. Microsoft emphasizes that safety and responsible deployment remain central to its AI initiatives. The company plans to share additional details once more rigorous testing of MAI-Image-1's guardrails has been completed. Microsoft aims to avoid the problematic behaviors that have challenged other image-generation systems in recent years, including the creation of deepfakes and illegal / harmful content.

Microsoft debuts MAI-Image-1, its first in-house AI image generator

Microsoft just announced its first homegrown image generator. The new model, called MAI-Image-1, is the company's first fully in-house text-to-image AI, and it's debuting in the top 10 on the LMArena leaderboard, a major public benchmark for generative image tools. MAI-Image-1 is expected to show up soon in Copilot and Bing Image Creator, giving Microsoft more control over how AI image generation is integrated across its products. That's a big deal, especially as Microsoft shifts away from relying solely on third-party tools. The model is designed to generate high-quality, photorealistic images rapidly. Microsoft says it performs especially well with realistic lighting, complex compositions, and natural textures. That speed-quality combo could make it a solid choice for creators and professionals who need visual content on demand. To avoid overly stylized or repetitive results, Microsoft curated its training data carefully and brought in feedback from artists and designers. Early sample images show off everything from a roadrunner kicking up desert dust to sunset-lit cityscapes and glowing beach scenes, and they look sharp. But this launch isn't just about visuals, MAI-Image-1 is also a key piece of Microsoft's AI game plan for 2025, which focuses on moving from experimental pilots to enterprise-grade tools. That includes building models around real use cases, enforcing strong data governance, and embedding responsible AI practices at every level. Microsoft is also building a full stack of AI solutions from ready-made Copilots to custom Azure ML tools, and MAI-Image-1 adds image generation to that mix. As regulations tighten, Microsoft is also doubling down on transparency and safety, keeping human oversight and compliance front and center. The model is still being evaluated on LMArena, but its strong early performance suggests Microsoft is ready to compete in the fast-moving generative AI space -- this time, with its own tech.

MAI‑Image‑1 puts Microsoft in the AI art game - this time, with its own brush

Microsoft has just introduced MAI‑Image‑1, its first in-house text-to-image generator. By building the model in-house, Microsoft is staking a new claim, competing not only with industry heavyweights like Google's Nano Banana and Midjourney, but also with its otherwise very close partner, OpenAI's own line of AI image models. MAI‑Image‑1 has already cracked the top 10 on the LMArena leaderboard, a public benchmarking platform where it's the only place it's available for now. That will change soon, however, as Microsoft says the model will soon be rolled into Copilot and Bing Image Creator. Microsoft is particularly proud of MAI-Image-1's photorealistic production values and the controllable lighting and textures. The idea for the company was to offer AI images that don't look like those made by other models, setting itself apart from the common aesthetic familiar to anyone who has seen many AI images, particularly of the 'slop' form proliferating on social media. The key was to curate the training data and work with professional creatives to tune the model, testing it against how it would be used by the average person. Microsoft hopes MAI will make Midjourney or Stable Diffusion models seem erratic and slow by comparison. Microsoft has been investing heavily in embedding AI in everything it makes, but that has mostly meant OpenAI tools. That's changing as of now, though. MAI-Image-1 now joins the MAI‑1 and MAI‑Voice‑1 homegrown language and speech models. MAI‑Image‑1 is the next puzzle piece. Of course, the average person won't notice any of that. They'll just either like or be annoyed by whatever image Microsoft PowerPoint's AI produces when they are building a presentation. The company says its focus on realism and usefulness means people will be quite pleased. There will be fewer dreamlike blobs and more images that actually work in documents, ads, and presentations. Because the question isn't "who has an image model?" It's "who has a useful one that people will actually use in real tools?" That's where Microsoft is gambling that MAI‑Image‑1 will shine. For creative professionals, this could mean a faster path from prompt to polished concept. For everyday users, it means fewer frustrating gaps between idea and execution. And for Microsoft, if users love the model, it makes the entire AI Copilot ecosystem more appealing. If it falls flat, it may need to turn back to OpenAI for help. For now, though, it seems Microsoft's era of relying on OpenAI is over. The future of AI tools will be about who builds them and where they appear as much as what they can actually do and what problems they solve. With MAI‑Image‑1, Microsoft is saying it wants to answer all those questions itself.

Microsoft's Says Its First AI Image Generator Delivers Excellent Photorealism

Microsoft AI has unveiled its first text-to-image generator developed entirely in-house, MAI-Image-1. Microsoft AI touts its new model's performance, especially concerning generating photorealistic images. MAI-Image-1 debuted in the top 10 of LMArena's text-to-image AI generator leaderboard, scoring a solid 1,096 preliminary mark. This puts it behind models like Google's Gemini 2.5 ("nano banana") Imagen 4.0 Ultra, but ahead of AI image generators like Dall-E and Stable Diffusion. The fact that MAI-Image-1 is outpacing Dall-E is notable, given that Dall-E's creator, OpenAI, has historically had very close ties with Microsoft, including a multi-billion dollar partnership. However, more recently, OpenAI and Microsoft's relationship has appeared a bit rocky, even though the two companies are still strategically partnered on AI innovation and safety. As The Verge reports, Microsoft recently began using Anthropic AI in certain Microsoft products. And of course, Microsoft is clearly investing heavily in developing its own AI these days, as MAI-Image-1 demonstrates. Microsoft AI describes MAI-Image-1 as the "next step" in its AI journey, and claims that the text-to-image generator will contribute to developing "more immersive, creative, and dynamic experiences" inside Microsoft's products. Microsoft solicited the help of professionals in various creative industries when training MAI-Image-1, which the company says helped make the model so powerful at launch and will make it more useful for real-world professionals. "For example, we prioritized rigorous data selection and nuanced evaluation focused on tasks that closely mirror real-world creative use cases -- taking into account feedback from professionals in the creative industries," Microsoft says. "This model is designed to deliver real flexibility, visual diversity and practical value." The new AI image model is particularly good at generating photorealistic images, per Microsoft, including realistic lighting (including bounce light and reflections), landscapes, and "much more." The tech giant touts its new model's speed, which Microsoft claims surpasses many larger models on the scene. To ensure that MAI-Image-1 is safe when it is officially released in Microsoft Copilot and Bing Image Creator "very soon," Microsoft is initially launching its new text-to-image model in LMArena, where users can test it now. "We are committed to ensuring safe and responsible outcomes," Microsoft promises. The early images generated by Microsoft's new AI image model, which are featured throughout this article, look quite impressive. For photographers, it's not obvious that this is a good thing.

Microsoft AI debuts its Nano Banana rival, and it's already a top text-to-image model

The in-house model lands in LMArena's top 10 with snappy results and creator-guided testing. What's happened? Microsoft AI has unveiled the slightly clunkily named MAI-Image-1, its in-house text-to-image system. The pitch is straightforward, generate useful pictures quickly, not flashy demos that fall apart in practice. In a blog post, Microsoft notes its system is already in the top 10 of text-to-image models on LMArena. Early positioning highlights natural lighting, cleaner reflections, and strong scenic work compared with larger, slower systems. Microsoft plans to roll MAI-Image-1 into its creative tools next, including Copilot and Bing Image Creator. This is important because: This looks like a real first-party swing in image generation from Microsoft, not a wrapper on someone else's tech. A day-one top-10 placement gives MAI-Image-1 early credibility, making it one of the best AI image generators right away. Owning the stack gives Microsoft tighter control over safety, quality, and integration. Curated training data plus feedback from creative pros aims to curb samey results that slow teams down. Quicker generation means users can explore more options without losing momentum when a brief or prompt changes. Recommended Videos Why should I care? If you use AI art for work, usable images matter more than spec sheets. Microsoft says MAI-Image-1 gets you to workable images fast, so you spend time refining instead of wrestling with repetition. Better lighting and reflections help scenes feel grounded, which cuts cleanup. Strong scenic generation speeds up mood boards, backgrounds, and location comps. Rapid iteration helps you test more prompts in a session, then hand them off to your usual tools. Okay, so what's next? Microsoft plans to bring this into Copilot and Bing Image Creator after the public trial wraps. If early feedback holds, expect more natural-looking results to show up by public release. You can try it in LMArena today and share feedback. The goal is for prompts across Microsoft's ecosystem to produce faster, more lifelike frames. It goes head-to-head with Google's Gemini powered Nano Banana, which has already taken the AI image generator market by storm.

Microsoft rolls out its first AI model for image creation - SiliconANGLE

Microsoft Corp. has just announced its third internally-produced artificial intelligence model as it strives to reduce its reliance on industry powerhouse OpenAI. The new model is called MAI-Image-1, and as the name suggests, it's the company's first text-to-image generator. It was designed and developed inhouse by the Microsoft AI team, and is the first from the company that's exclusively focused on image generation. "MAI-Image-1 marks the next step on our journey and paves the way for more immersive, creative and dynamic experiences inside our products," Microsoft AI said in a blog post announcing the new model. MAI-Image-1 is said to be especially good for creating highly photorealistic images, having been created in collaboration with "creative professionals". The Microsoft AI team explained that one of its goals was to avoid the "repetitive or generically-stylized outputs" that have become more or less characteristic of AI image generators. From the example images Microsoft has provided, it seems that the effort has paid off, for it's capable of generating much more natural lighting and realistic-looking landscapes compared to other models. The team also stressed that MAI-Image-1 is able to process prompts and generate its images much faster than other, often larger models, which sounds like another major advantage. That said, none of this can be confirmed, for it seems that it's only available for select testers at the moment. However, the model has already secured a spot in LMArena's top ten text-to-image rankings, which is where humans compare the image outputs of various AI systems and vote on which they like best. More importantly, the release underscores Microsoft's determination to establish its own credentials as a top-tier AI model maker, accelerating its break from OpenAI, which it previously relied on. Microsoft was one of the earliest financial backers of OpenAI, and it remains one of its biggest investors overall, but the two companies' aims have diverged somewhat over the last couple of years. As such, Microsoft no longer has exclusive early access to OpenAI's GPT models, and it no longer uses them alone to power some of its AI features. For instance, some of Microsoft 365's AI capabilities are now powered by models from Anthropic PBC. Meanwhile, Microsoft has made significant investments in creating its own AI models. In August, the company announced its first two in-house models, MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-1-preview. At the time, Microsoft AI division leader Mustafa Suleyman said the company has established an "enormous five-year roadmap", so it's likely that there will be many more model releases in future. Ultimately, MAI-Image-1 seems destined to power the image creation features on Microsoft Copilot and the Bing Image Creator, where it's set to become available "very soon," the company said.

MAI-Image-1 marks Microsoft's debut as a standalone AI image creator

The model ranked #9 on the LMArena leaderboard, scoring 1,096 points against OpenAI and Google's top-performing models. Microsoft announced MAI-Image-1, its first image generation model developed entirely in-house. The model will become available on Copilot and Bing Image Creator "very soon" and can currently be tested on the LMArena platform, where it was initially benchmarked. In developing MAI-Image-1, Microsoft stated its team focused on avoiding repetitive or generically stylized outputs. "For example, we prioritised rigorous data selection and nuanced evaluation focused on tasks that closely mirror real-world creative use cases," a company statement explained. This development process also incorporated direct feedback from professionals working within creative industries to inform the model's capabilities and overall refinement. LMArena, the platform used for testing, operates by having users pose queries to two anonymous chatbots and then vote for the superior response until a winner is determined. The model is reported to excel at generating landscapes and photorealistic imagery. Its specific strengths include the accurate capture of intricate details related to lighting, shadows, and reflections within a generated scene. Microsoft noted that this high level of performance is particularly evident "when compared to many larger, slower models," indicating an emphasis on computational efficiency in its design. This capability positions it as a tool for creating detailed and realistic visual content. On the LMArena text-to-image leaderboard, MAI-Image-1 achieved a rank of #9 with a score of 1,096 points. For comparison, Google's Gemini-2.5-Flash, also known as Nano-Banana, secured the #2 rank with 1,154 points, while OpenAI's model was positioned at #7 with 1,123 points. The leaderboard is currently led by Hunyuan-image-3.0, an AI model developed by the Chinese technology company Hunyuan. The creation of MAI-Image-1 is part of a wider in-house AI initiative at Microsoft. The company has also developed other proprietary models, including MAI-Voice-1 for natural speech generation and the Phi series of small language models, which are designed for efficient performance in reasoning tasks. This internal development occurs alongside the company's continued support for OpenAI, which includes providing both financial backing and essential infrastructure for its separate model development efforts. The AI image generation field is experiencing a period of intense activity. OpenAI's model previously gained viral attention for its striking imitation of the Studio Ghibli art style, while Google's Nano-Banana set a new benchmark with its powerful AI editing capabilities. Using LMArena, AIM conducted a direct comparison of Microsoft's MAI-Image-1, Google's Gemini-2.5-Flash, and OpenAI's GPT-image-1. The models were tested with a prompt depicting "two people in a café by a window during late afternoon." This specific test was designed to evaluate how well each model handled mixed lighting, reflections, and shadow realism. Users can submit similar prompts on the LMArena platform to test these models themselves.

Microsoft's First Native AI Image Generation Model Is Finally Here

Microsoft introduced the MAI-Image-1 artificial intelligence (AI) model on Monday. It is the company's first natively built image generation model. The Redmond-based tech giant highlighted that the AI model made its debut on the public model ranking forum LMArena and was listed among the top 10 text-to-image models. It is currently not available anywhere else, but will soon be added to Microsoft's products. The model arrives just a little over a month after Microsoft introduced its first in-house voice model, MAI-Voice-1. Microsoft Develops Its First AI Image Generation Model Ever since the start of 2025, Microsoft has started developing in-house generative AI models. Separate from the Azure-developed models for its enterprise clients, these are labelled Microsoft AI or MAI in short. In July, the company introduced the MAI Diagnostic Orchestrator (MAI-DxO), an AI model that is said to diagnose patients more accurately than human doctors, and in August, it debuted the MAI-Voice-1, a speech generation model that natively generates expressive and natural-sounding voice. In a newsroom post, the tech giant announced the MAI-Image-1. Taking a shift from AI players who are developing large general-purpose models, Microsoft said its focus is on creating "purpose-built models" that "pave the way for more immersive, creative, and dynamic experiences inside our products." Currently, the only place to experience the model's capabilities is LMArena, where the AI model debuted in 9th position on the text-to-image leaderboard. However, it is a preliminary ranking based on pre-release testing, and the final ranking can be different based on the community prompts and votes. At present, Google's Nano Banana, Imagen 4, and GPT-image-1 are all ranked above the Microsoft model. The tech giant confirmed that the model will be added to Copilot and Bing Image Creator soon. While Microsoft did not share any technical details of the image generation model, it highlighted that rigorous data selection and nuanced evaluation focused on tasks that mirror real-world use cases were prioritised during the training. The company also took feedback from professionals in creative industries. As per the company, the model excels at generating photorealistic imagery, such as lighting, landscapes, and more. It is also said to generate output more quickly compared to many "larger, slower models."

Microsoft announces MAI-Image-1, its first in-house image generation model

MAI-Image-1 is currently being tested on LMArena to gather feedback and improve its performance. Microsoft has unveiled MAI-Image-1, its first image generation model developed entirely in-house. According to the tech giant, this new model ranks among the top 10 text-to-image models on LMArena. This launch is part of Microsoft AI's mission to create artificial intelligence that is helpful, supportive, and designed to serve people in meaningful ways. Following the release of two other in-house models in August, MAI-Image-1 represents the next step in Microsoft's AI journey. "We trained this model with the goal of delivering genuine value for creators, and we put a lot of care into avoiding repetitive or generically-stylized outputs," the tech giant explained in a blogpost. Also read: OnePlus 13R available for under Rs 37,000 during Amazon Great India Festival sale Microsoft carefully selected training data and conducted detailed evaluations, taking into account feedback from professionals in the creative industries. According to the company, MAI-Image-1 delivers "real flexibility, visual diversity and practical value." The MAI-Image-1 model is said to generate photorealistic images, including lighting and landscapes, faster and more efficiently than with many larger models. This speed will allow users to quickly test ideas, iterate on designs, and then move their creations to other tools for further refinement. Also read: Xiaomi 14 Civi price drops by Rs 17,000 during Amazon Great Indian Festival 2025 MAI-Image-1 is currently being tested on LMArena to gather feedback and improve its performance. Soon, this AI model will be integrated into Copilot and Bing Image Creator. Also read: Apple iPhone 16 Plus available with over Rs 11,900 discount: How to grab this deal "We're a lean, fast-moving lab made up of some of the world's most talented minds. We have an ambitious mission we truly believe in. We're also fortunate to partner with incredible product teams giving our models the chance to reach billions of users and create immense positive impact," Microsoft said.