Microsoft Paint gets Photoshop-style generative fill and erase

Microsoft Paint used to be the app you only opened when you needed a quick crop or wanted to doodle out of boredom. That era is officially over.

Microsoft just announced a massive AI update for Paint and Photos on Copilot Plus PCs, packing in features that look suspiciously like lightweight versions of Adobe Photoshop.

Generative tools right inside Paint

The marquee additions to Paint are Generative Fill and Generative Erase. Both tools work using an adjustable brush to highlight whatever part of the image you want to change.

Generative Erase wipes out unwanted background distractions, photobombers, or random clutter, functioning almost identically to Google's Magic Eraser on Pixel phones.

Generative Fill takes a page straight out of Photoshop's playbook. You brush over an area, type in a text prompt, and the app drops an AI-generated object right into that exact spot.

Microsoft says the underlying diffusion model has been upgraded for better speed and quality, and it now includes built-in moderation to prevent abuse. These tools build on the Cocreator feature rolled out earlier this year, which merged text prompts with rough sketches.

Photos is also getting some love. Alongside Generative Erase, it is adding an on-device Super-Resolution feature. Using a simple slider, you can upscale blurry or pixelated images by up to eight times their original size. Microsoft claims it can upscale images up to 4K in seconds for free, outpacing Adobe Lightroom's 4x enhancement.

Why it matters

For everyday users, this completely changes the equation for casual photo editing.

We think most people do not actually need the steep learning curve or hefty monthly subscription of Adobe Creative Cloud. They just want to remove an ex from a vacation shot or upscale a grainy childhood photo. Giving them Photoshop-tier tools inside default, lightweight Windows apps is a massive win for convenience.

At the same time, Microsoft's strategy is transparent. By locking these tools to Copilot Plus PCs, the company is using basic system utilities as leverage to sell new hardware.

It is a clever wedge against third-party software. While Microsoft is not threatening Adobe's core enterprise workflow, it is quietly eliminating the need for paid consumer-tier editing tools and browser-based upscalers. When the free app that comes with your PC is this capable, paying for simple image manipulation suddenly makes very little sense.