Artcraft: AI recreates Adobe's creative programs as open source

A developer writes in a forum that software is over – and claims to have rebuilt Photoshop with AI. At first, this sounds like one of those big promises that appear quickly online and disappear just as quickly. But behind Brandon Thomas's appearance there is a concrete project: Under the name Artcraft, he is releasing Adobe alternatives that are meant to replicate well-known creative programs.

The applications are still unfinished. Even so, there is more to them than a technical experiment. Artcraft shows how far AI-assisted programming can now go – and raises a bigger question: What happens when individual developers can suddenly build tools that used to require entire teams?

A suite with familiar models

According to Thomas, Artcraft includes replicas for a large part of the Adobe Creative Suite. These include Photocraft as a counterpart to Photoshop, Filmcraft for video editing, and Designcraft for layout work. There are also corresponding equivalents for Illustrator and Lightroom. The names are not exactly subtle, but they make it immediately clear which programs the project is modeled on.

A look at the interface explains the appeal. Photocraft shows familiar elements such as toolbars, layers, and adjustment panels. Filmcraft relies on a timeline with video and audio tracks as well as preview windows. Designcraft, in turn, offers a layout canvas with text and design elements. Anyone who has worked with the originals will quickly recognize the borrowings.

The programs are not meant to run only in the browser. Thomas relies on Rust and native versions for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Linux in particular is likely to be interesting for some creatives: Adobe does not offer its programs natively there. However, a familiar interface does not make an equivalent application. Between a convincing screenshot and a reliable working tool lies a great deal of development work.

From AI to a first draft

Thomas says he used Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 for development. He does not describe himself as a spontaneous newcomer to AI coding, but points to around 15 years of experience in software development and his work on larger Rust projects. The AI is therefore part of his toolbox, not a replacement for any technical understanding.

His motivation, however, is not just technical ambition. Thomas has said publicly that Adobe repeatedly charged him a cancellation fee. Since then, in his own pointed words, he can't stand the company anymore. Personal annoyance thus turned into a project that taps into a larger longing: Many creatives want powerful programs without being tied to expensive subscriptions or a particular provider.

That doesn't automatically make Artcraft a mature alternative. Thomas himself describes the current versions as very early alpha. Initial tests point to missing and faulty features. Anyone who wants to start a project with it should therefore expect that tools may not respond as expected or that important work steps are not yet possible at all.

The gap between replica and product

Thomas holds out the prospect that the applications could, over time, reach a large part of the feature set of their models. He speaks of up to 99 percent and estimates the path there at months rather than years. That is an ambitious forecast – and not yet proof that this quality can actually be achieved.

Producing a first version is something different from maintaining software over the long term. A creative program must also cope with large files, unusual workflows, and various system configurations. In addition, there are questions that are less spectacular than a new feature but become decisive in everyday use: How reliably does the application save? What happens in the event of a crash? Do keyboard shortcuts, color management, and file formats work consistently?

For professional use, regular updates, documentation, and a team that fixes bugs also count. With open-source software, other developers can contribute. But that doesn't happen automatically. Whether a community forms and sustains the project in the long term remains to be seen.

What does „clean room“ mean here?

Alongside the technical side, there is the legal question: May one rebuild software like Photoshop or Premiere? Thomas describes Artcraft as a clean-room reimplementation. This refers to a reimplementation that is supposed to have been created without access to the original Adobe code. That is an important difference from directly copying the program code.

Reverse engineering is not prohibited in principle. Depending on the legal system and the specific implementation, the analysis of software and the development of compatible programs can be permissible. However, this does not result in a blanket permission to adopt every detail of a commercial product. Trademarks, copyright-protected components, and the specific design of an interface can raise their own questions. The conditions under which software is examined can also play a role.

What matters, therefore, is not only what Thomas says about his method. Whether a specific replica is legally permissible depends on the details. Adobe could also have other objections reviewed, even if no Adobe code was used. For Artcraft, this remains an open construction site – alongside all the technical ones.

A sign of change, not a farewell to software

Thomas connects the project with a much larger vision: People could in the future build their own alternatives to large platforms, search engines, or even smartphones. That sounds like a new age of self-empowerment. For the moment, though, it is above all an ambitious outlook, not a finished roadmap.

Nevertheless, Artcraft is interesting precisely because the programs are still so early. The project shows that AI can help with the implementation of complex software and that a single developer can reach visible results more quickly. It does not yet prove that Photoshop can be completely replaced in a short time. Good software does not arise merely because an AI writes a lot of code. It has to be tested, improved, and maintained over years.

For you, that means: Artcraft is currently more of an exciting experiment to watch than a tool on which you should base your next big production. The more important news may be that the gap between idea and working prototype is shrinking. Whether this will permanently become reliable Photoshop clones will be decided not in the forum, but in everyday use – in the next updates, the fixed bugs, and the features that actually deliver what the interface promises.

I quickly downloaded the program, and the mere 133 MB start the program extremely fast, and all the editing is much faster (of course, because not all functions are included). Even PSD files open correctly. For simple things, definitely sufficient. Unbelievable what AI can do these days!

I myself occasionally use https://www.photopea.com/, where I can edit images very quickly, in the familiar Photoshop interface, directly in the browser. Do you already know the service?

Source: https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000343256/von-adobe-genervter-entwickler-baut-photoshop-premiere-und-co-mit-ki-als-open-source-nach