CopyAI is a cloud-based tool that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to help marketers and writers of all levels generate high-quality copy. Whether you're a seasoned marketing professional or just starting out, CopyAI can assist you in crafting compelling content that resonates with your target audience.

With its advanced natural language processing capabilities, CopyAI enables users to create, test, and optimize words for a variety of purposes, including websites, social media, email campaigns, and ads. This makes it an ideal tool for businesses and individuals looking to increase their online presence and improve their marketing efforts.

One of the standout features of CopyAI is its universal accessibility. Like similar tools such as Anyword, CopyAI is available through the web, which makes it easy for users to access and utilize across various platforms and browsers. Once you log in to your CopyAI account, you can start generating high-quality content in just a few seconds, saving you time and effort.

• Interested in CopyAI? Visit the CopyAI website to get started. 

However, as with any tool, CopyAI may not be suitable for everyone. While it excels at generating content quickly and efficiently, it may not be appropriate for certain types of content or users, so it's important to carefully evaluate whether it's the right fit for your needs.

Features

CopyAI has become a favorite among users looking to create high-quality content to help them stand out in this crowded digital space. This AI writing tool offers a wide range of options that allow users to get started and take their writing to the next level. These options are easily accessible from the user dashboard, the creative command center where everything begins for CopyAI users. 

From this location, you can explore various writing templates, settings, and features designed to help you create a compelling copy in minutes. Whether you want to access your saved projects or try out new options, the dashboard is user-friendly and intuitive, making it easy to navigate through different features.

The chat feature is the default option that acts as a blank canvas to help generate inspiration. Whether you need to write a blog post about travel or an email to a potential client, CopyAI can help. The brainstorm feature allows you to create copy such as " ten catchy Twitter headlines on holiday shopping," "the best Facebook headlines for marketing professionals,"  and more. 

If you are struggling to come up with a topic, don’t worry. CopyAI’s chat function provides prompt templates to give you a head start. These templates cover various topics, including content creation, SEO, email marketing, social media, PR and communication, sales, and strategy. Moreover, you can create custom templates that cater to your specific needs. Each template in the collection provides various options, so whether you need a headline generator, a step-by-step guide, or a product description, CopyAI has you covered. You can even use the “rewrite content” option to enhance your written content.

To fully personalize your experience with CopyAI, you should create one or more brand voices. This process involves providing text that accurately describes you or your company's unique voice. This text should be between 50 and 500 words and can come from various sources such as blog articles, social media posts, website copy, marketing emails, and more. This allows CopyAI to tailor its AI-powered tools to better suit your brand's needs.

CopyAI has recently launched a new feature known as Infobase. Specifically designed to aid sales and marketing professionals, Infobase allows you to store critical information about your organization, including branding instructions, value propositions, and positioning documents. Using the platform's sophisticated AI-powered tools, your team can leverage this data to produce outstanding content.

As CopyAI explains, "All that's left is to sit back and watch the magic happen."

Finally, CopyAI Pro offers an excellent solution for collaborating on projects with your team. With shared workspaces, you can collaborate seamlessly, share your ideas and thoughts, and work together. These workspaces provide an excellent platform where you can easily view a list of all the workspaces you are a part of, create a new workspace, and open existing workspaces to read and edit them.

The shared workspaces featured in CopyAI Pro are designed to help you and your team stay organized and work efficiently. Whether working on a new project or continuing an existing one, you can easily collaborate with your team members in real-time. You can assign tasks to team members, make comments and suggestions, and keep track of all the changes made to the project.

Furthermore, you can create multiple workspaces for different projects, making managing and organizing your work easier. You can even invite clients or stakeholders to join a workspace, allowing them to view and provide feedback on the project.

Installation, setup, and compatibility

As a web-based product, CopyAI can be accessed from any platform and browser, providing a seamless and user-friendly interface that makes content creation easy and effortless. Whether you're at home or on the go, CopyAI's user-friendly interface and intuitive features make it a perfect solution for anyone looking to create high-quality content quickly and easily.

One of the most notable aspects of CopyAI is that it supports over 25 languages, including French, Japanese, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, and more, making it an ideal solution for users who are not native English speakers but still want to produce content in their preferred language.

In addition to its multi-language support, CopyAI also offers eight preset tones, including Bold, Friendly, Luxury, Relaxed, Professional, Adventurous, Witty, and Persuasive, to help users set the right tone for their writing. These preset tones can be customized to fit users' specific needs, ensuring that the content generated is tailored to their requirements.

Moreover, CopyAI allows users to create custom tones and target audiences to personalize the content generated further. By providing information about their writing style and, if applicable, their company's background and goals, users can ensure that the generated content is aligned with their specific needs.

Usability

CopyAI and Anyword are the most popular AI-powered writing assistants available today. Although both tools have many similarities, some differences set them apart.

As a tech writer, I found CopyAI to be a bit more challenging to use than Anyword. This is not to say that CopyAI is inferior in any way. However, I noticed it was more suited for sales and marketing and less for general writing. But, CopyAI can be a valuable tool for various professionals, including bloggers, content writers, social media managers, and email marketers. With its powerful AI algorithms, CopyAI can help these professionals create engaging and compelling content that resonates with their target audience.

In short, CopyAI's strengths lie in its ability to help businesses and marketers create persuasive copy that drives results. Nonetheless, it can also be helpful for other types of writers who want to streamline their writing process and produce high-quality content more efficiently.  For these folks, however, there might be a longer learning curve, if only because CopyAI's most significant tools cater to a select group of users. 

Plans and pricing

CopyAI offers three different subscription levels, each with its unique features and benefits. One of these subscription levels is entirely free, but it has its limitations. The free version allows users to generate up to 2,000 words per month and only includes access to the Chat byCopyAI tool.

For most users, the CopyAI Pro plan is the best option. This plan costs $36 per month when purchased annually or $49 per month when purchased monthly. It can be used by a team of up to five people and includes unlimited brand voices and pre-built prompt templates. The prompt improvement tool and Infobase are also available with this plan. It even supports more than 95 languages.

Large companies can receive discounts when considering a CopyAI enterprise plan. This plan includes unlimited words, unlimited seats, a dedicated account manager, and more.

CopyAI’s pricing is comparable to other similar services. What I find particularly appealing about CopyAI is that it provides a free plan that is available to everyone. This free plan not only serves as an opportunity for beginners to try out the software, but also enables even hobbyist writers to enhance their writing skills for free. Most alternatives offer only temporary trial memberships, which is unfortunate, but CopyAI's gain. 

Final verdict

CopyAI is a powerful AI-powered writing assistant that has revolutionized the way content is created. Using the latest AI technology, CopyAI offers a range of features that make creating high-quality content easy and effortless. Whether you need to create marketing copy, articles, or social media posts, CopyAI has got you covered.

One of the best things about CopyAI is that it supports multiple languages, making it an excellent tool for businesses that operate across borders. It also offers preset tones that cater to different writing styles and target audiences. Whether you want to sound professional, friendly, or conversational, CopyAI has a tone that's just right for you. And if you can't find the perfect tone, you can always create a custom one.

Sales and marketing teams stand to benefit the most from CopyAI, as it can help them create compelling and persuasive copy that drives conversions. However, writers of all kinds can also use CopyAI to their advantage. Whether you're a blogger, journalist, or novelist, CopyAI can help you streamline your writing process and produce high-quality content faster.

Of course, like any new tool, there might be a bit of a learning curve when you use CopyAI for the first time. But once you get the hang of it, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it.

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In its current state, Anyword is a cloud-based writing tool that allows users to create, test, and optimize marketing copy with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). It uses natural language processing to generate and maximize copy for websites, social media, email, and ads. The result is extraordinary— not just for marketers looking to get ahead of the competition.

In this review, you'll learn more about Anyword, including who it's for and what it can do. 

• Interested in Anyword? Visit the Anyword website to get started. 

Anyword provides its users with access to a range of tools that are easily accessible through a user-friendly web-based interface, which requires minimal learning. Anyword does not generate just one solution when you request one. Instead, it provides you with multiple options, making it easier to compare and contrast the different solutions.

Features

You can get started with Anyword without committing, as new subscribers get a free seven-day trial with some limits. After this, you can subscribe to one of three plans: starter, data-driven teams, and business. The difference between the first two plans is primarily determined by the number of users accessing the service under the same account. The starter plan, for example, is geared towards freelancers and solo marketers. As such, this level of membership only includes one seat. By contrast, the data-driven teams' package consists of three seats.

Meanwhile, an Anyword business plan subscription includes everything from the other two plans but, in this case, offers unlimited seats. The business plan provides brand management tools, enterprise-grade security, and more. 

Solutions like Anyword typically keep track of the words or prompts it generate. GrammarlyGO, for example, offers subscribers 1,000 prompts each month. Uniquely, Anyword includes unlimited words with each of its plans. A trial package, unfortunately, has a 2,500-word limit. 

This review primarily focuses on the starter and data-driven teams packages. 

There's only one way to access Anyword: through the web. Other AI-writing tools, like GrammarlyGO, also work in select writing apps, which makes for a more seamless process. And yet, how Anyword is designed works very nicely. 

Upon signing up for Anyword, a personalized dashboard awaits. Starter members have one workspace, while other subscriptions offer more. Your workspace is where you can begin using the service. On the left side of the page, you're offered three options: Editor, Brand Voice, and Copy Intelligence.

Most folks will use the editor more than any other Anyword tool. It's super important and a joy to use. You have two options for getting started with the editor: pick from one of the many templates or start from scratch. 

The Anyword templates are arranged into an odd mix of valuable categories. Some of these (SEO, social posts, product postings) are no doubt designed for marketers. Others are for writers of other backgrounds. These templates include general writing, copywriting frameworks, articles/blogs, and more. 

The prompt is an attractive template, as is the one for topic ideation. Think of the formal as a digital blank sheet of paper where you can ask Anyword to create content. The latter is a bit more structured and designed for those looking to create copy or video ideas for a blog. 

The content improver is the most valuable of all the editor templates. Use it to input your existing content to receive assistance on improving it.

The second Anyword option is the blog wizard. You can tell Anyword what type of blog post you want to create through a series of prompts. The first part of the process is telling it what the post should be about and its target audience.

Select the default "broad audience," or get more specific. To do so, you can feed Anyword information as the target audience's age, gender, or pain points or point the service to an existing website that caters to the same audience you hope to attract. To add your target audience, you can also add sample text, which Anyword can use to make recommendations for your blog. You'll also need to add the tone of voice you wish to use and SEO keywords. 

Once Anyword has this information, it will suggest a blog title and an outline for your blog post. You can make adjustments at any time. 

The final step is telling Anyword how long your blog post should be. Click "Continue to editor," and Anyword creates a blog post based on your inputs. From there, you can edit the blog post, make some recommendations further recommendations, or copy the text to your computer clipboard for use on your blog. 

Your Brand Voice is an important feature of Anyword. It's where you can provide more information about yourself and your company. You can add a "tone of voice" and identify your target audience. Additionally, you can use the "Messaging Bank" to provide unique information about your company and its products. Starting with a company bio or mission statement is a great way to begin. Anyword will use this information to understand your brand voice better.

The brand voice tools available on Anyword are designed to help you create the perfect brand voice for your business. They allow you to define your brand's personality, tone, and style, which are then used by Anyword to generate text that is consistent with your brand voice. This is particularly useful for businesses that want to maintain a consistent voice across all marketing materials.

Digging deeper and adding custom formulas can further enhance Anyword's capabilities. This will enable Anyword to understand better how you want the copy to be structured. Additionally, you can set brand rules by flagging specific terms that you would like Anyword to replace or avoid using. This way, you can ensure that the copy generated by Anyword adheres to your brand's guidelines and standards.

Anyword is seamlessly integrated into various platforms including HubSpot emails, Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and Facebook Pages. This allows you to leverage the service's copy intelligence tools to improve the quality of your future content. By analyzing the performance of your existing content in the blogosphere, you can make informed decisions about optimizing your content for better results. 

Installation, setup, and compatibility

Unlike other text generators, Anyword does not need to be installed as it can be accessed directly through its website. Once you log into your account, you can start generating text immediately without any hassle. However, it is important to note that while generating text the first time takes just a few seconds, the initial setup process takes longer.

To fully benefit from Anyword, it is important that you take the time to go through the brand voice tools. These tools help you create multiple target audiences to assist Anyword in better understanding the type of text you hope to generate. By doing so, you can ensure that the content generated by Anyword is tailored to your specific needs.

As a web-based product, Anyword is accessible from any platform and browser. This provides quick access no matter your location. Whether you are at home or on the go, you can easily use Anyword to generate high-quality content that meets your specific needs. With its user-friendly interface and intuitive features, Anyword is the perfect solution for anyone looking to create content quickly and easily.

Usability

If you're looking for a platform that can help you generate and refine your written content, look no further than Anyword. This tool is designed to be user-friendly and easy to use, thanks to the considerable effort invested by its developers. They've taken care to ensure that every task has clear and straightforward steps, and restarting a project is a simple process.

One of the most impressive features of Anyword is its ability to help you refine your generated text until it's just right. As a writer, you know that the slightest tweak can make all the difference in the world. With Anyword, you can keep honing your text until it's perfect.

While having a marketing background might help you get the most out of Anyword, you don't need to be a pro to benefit from this tool. Writers from all walks of life can use the platform to improve their content. The content improver tool, in particular, is worth the price of admission. It can help you take your writing to the next level, regardless of your skill level.

Plans and pricing

Anyword offers three types of subscriptions. The starter package is $39 per month if purchased annually. If you don't want a 12-month commitment, you can subscribe for $49 paid monthly. The starter package includes unlimited words and more than 100 templates. It also has one tone of voice, one custom copyrighting formula, two target audiences, one messaging bank asset, and three brand rules.

The Teams package is $49 per month when purchased annually and $99 per month when purchased monthly; I feel the monthly price is too high. This package offers a plagiarism checker with the blog wizard with three tones of voice, three target audiences, and three messaging bank assets. Additionally, it includes five brand rules and three custom copywriting formulas.

Please note that the limitations mentioned above only apply to how many options you can use at the same time when generating text. For instance, a starter subscription can only use a maximum of two target audiences when trying to create the perfect text. However, you can create as many audiences as you need. The catch is that you can only use two targets simultaneously. 

Business plans are available at custom pricing levels. They include the same tools as the other two, plus administrative options. 

Final verdict

Anyword is an amazing service that is developed with ease of use in mind. I have really enjoyed testing it and I'm excited to see how it will improve over time. Although I'm not a marketer, I was curious to know if Anyword could be useful for writers from different backgrounds. Fortunately, it didn't disappoint and I found it to be very beneficial.

App integration would be a great addition to Anyword, but unfortunately, it is not currently available. For example, a Microsoft Word plugin for Anyword would be a valuable tool for writers, enabling them to make improvements directly from their word processor without having to navigate to the website. However, the lack of app plugins should not deter you from considering Anyword as a useful tool for both general writers and marketers alike.

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Grammarly is a cloud-based AI-powered writing tool that acts as a personal bestie for writers of all levels. It checks for spelling, grammar, punctuation errors, and plagiarism. You can also customize your writing style, tone, and language to make your document more personalized. As a result, you can create clear and error-free documents that effectively communicate your message.

The team responsible for Grammarly has launched a new feature called GrammarlyGO. Currently, in beta, this feature assists with writing more effectively by aiding with composition, ideation, rewrites, and replies. Like Grammarly, this new feature is available on multiple platforms and can be used as a plug-in on different apps and websites.

So, is GrammarlyGO worth all the hype? Well, yes, in many respects. It's not perfect, though. But check out this review and judge for yourself.

• Interested in GrammarlyGO? Check out the Grammarly website here.

Grammarly was introduced in 2009. Initially, Grammarly was designed as an educational tool to help students improve their English skills. However, Grammarly has now expanded its reach and appeals to all types of writers, not just students.

Features

Before getting into GrammarlyGO, it's crucial to understand how and where you can access Grammarly as a user. For newbies, this can sometimes add a level of confusion. You should also know the differences between Grammarly Free and Grammarly Premium. 

As mentioned in our Grammarly review, the service offers three main plans: Free, Premium, and Business. The Free plan provides basic writing suggestions, including grammar, spelling, punctuation, conciseness, and tone detection. In contrast, Grammarly Premium users enjoy advanced features like full-sentence rewrites, word choice suggestions, tone adjustments, citations, and plagiarism detection.

Grammarly Business is an upgraded version of Grammarly Premium. It includes all premium features and extras such as style guides, snippets, brand tones, analytics dashboard, account roles and permissions, and SAML single sign-on. 

When you use GrammarlyGO, each usage is called a "prompt." The number of prompts available to you depends on the type of plan that you have. If you are using Grammarly Free, you will have access to 100 prompts per month. Grammarly Premium subscribers, on the other hand, receive 1,000 prompts per month. If you have a Grammarly Business plan, each user will also receive 1,000 prompts every month.

The number of prompts you have remaining each month is readily displayed in the Grammarly app, regardless of the platform.

AI features fall into five categories: ideate, compose, reply, rewrite, and personalize. The first allows you to seek advice from Grammarly on potential article ideas. For example, you could ask Grammarly questions like, "Name five great topics about the fall" or "Five ways to motivate employees." 

With the compose feature, you can ask Grammarly to draft something from scratch. Maybe it's an announcement that you are getting engaged or a cover letter for a new job. The feature works best with more background information you include. Adding the name of the person you're marrying and when, for example, you make a better wedding announcement, just as indicating the type of job you want, would improve your letter. 

A reply is when you want Grammarly to assist you with answering a question. Examples prompts include: "Tell Brent I don't want the new job," or "Congratulate Tom and Becky on their upcoming nuptials."

Perhaps the most substantial GrammarlyGO prompt is when you seek guidance on improving existing text. To get started, highlight the text in a supported browser or app, then click the GrammarlyGO button within Grammarly. In a few seconds, you'll see alternative text. If you don't like it, click "Rephrase" for another option, and so forth. 

One of the best reasons for using Grammarly is that you can tell the AI more about the voice you hope to achieve. This process carries over to GrammarlyGO under the final type of prompt, personalize.  Once GrammarlyGO offers a prompt, you can adjust it.  To do so, you can establish a formality (casual, neutral, formal) and up to three types of tone such as "confident," "witty," and "direct." Adding your profession also assists GrammaryGo in establishing your voice for future prompts. 

The personalization option doesn't end there. You can also tweak a GrammarlyGO prompt and adjust it using various suggestions. For example, you could ask to make it "more descriptive" or "sound confident." Other options include "Make it persuasive," "Sound casual," "Make it empathetic," and many more. 

As you can see, there's a lot GrammarlyGO can do that enhances an already excellent  AI-powered writing tool.

Installation, setup, and compatibility

To start with Grammarly and GrammarlyGO, you must create an account via the official website. Once your Grammarly account is established, you can download and install the product on whatever platform you wish. 

While GrammarlyGO is already available across various platforms, it is not currently available everywhere that Grammarly is. You cannot now use GrammarlyGO via a mobile app, for example. However, you can use it on Grammarly for Windows, Grammarly for Mac, Grammarly for Chrome, Grammarly for Edge, and the Grammarly Editor. Supported apps include Gmail, Google Docs, Microsoft Word, LinkedIn, and Medium. Grammarly has promised to make GrammarlyGO available for more apps and websites.

You'll find specific Grammarly downloads from the Grammarly support website. Installation is as simple as downloading the app or plugin and following the on-screen instructions, which includes signing into your account once. 

Usability

Using GrammarlyGO, and Grammarly in general, is pretty simple. However, for first-time users, there is a modest learning curve. Unlike other applications, Grammarly is primarily designed to work in the background of other websites and apps. As a result, locating it can sometimes be challenging.

You'll notice a Grammarly icon at the lower right inside an app that supports Grammarly. You might also see this icon immediately following any location where you've typed text. Hover over the icon, and you'll see the one for GrammarlyGO.

When I write articles for TechRadar, my go-to writing tool is iA Writer. Once I start writing, the Grammarly and GrammarlyGO icons appear in the window's lower right corner, as you can see above.

You might ask yourself whether you need to install GrammarlyGO on every one of your documents-based apps. That's not necessarily the case on Windows or macOS. For Grammarly and GrammarlyGO to work with emails, messages, documents, and more, you have to install Grammarly for Windows or Grammarly for Mac too. Once you do, you'll see the Grammarly and GrammarlyGO icons within your apps. 

Plans and pricing

You can subscribe to Grammarly on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis. If you opt for the yearly billing cycle, you can save a lot of money on both the Grammarly Premium and Grammarly Business packages. On the other hand, the monthly subscription options are the most expensive on a per-month basis.

If you choose to use the free version of Grammarly and exceed the limit of 100 GrammarlyGO prompts per month, you can easily upgrade to the paid version. However, if you do not upgrade, you will not be able to use GrammarlyGO until the monthly prompts are automatically refilled. The date of the refill is based on the day GrammarlyGO was first made available in your account.

When billed annually, Grammarly Premium costs $12 per month ($144 total). Grammarly Business is $15 per user annually. Volume discounts are available for 10+ members.

Final verdict

I have a few concerns about Grammarly that bleed into GrammarlyGO. The first has to do with how you access the tools. Grammarly requires an active internet connection, which means there could be times, depending on your situation, when it simply isn't available. That's no fault of Grammarly, but it's worth mentioning. 

Although my internet connection is usually reliable, there have been instances where Grammarly has experienced minor disruptions. However, these occurrences are infrequent and brief. During these downtimes, I typically use the opportunity to take a break and grab another cup of coffee or iced tea. Since the beta launch of GrammarlyGO, I have noticed more frequent but brief downtimes. As GrammarlyGO is still in its beta phase, I am not overly concerned about these disruptions. I'm confident the service will improve as the infrastructure is refined.

As a power user of Grammarly, I have noticed a recurring issue affecting the tool's functionality. Occasionally, when using a browser, Grammarly disappears, and I have to uninstall and reinstall the plug-in to get it back online. Although this issue is always inconvenient, it is understandable that several factors could be causing it, such as the browser, third-party apps, or the operating system. It would be great to see this issue resolved, but it may require identifying and fixing the root cause(s) of the problem.

Prompt limit is another aspect to consider. For most people, a monthly limit of 1,000 prompts is sufficient. However, there may be situations where that limit falls short. For instance, individuals who write daily or students who may exceed this limit during certain months of the year.

Overall, however, I have found GrammarlyGO, like Grammarly itself, to be a terrific product worth the admission price. It's a worthy tool that can help you communicate in better ways, regardless of what writing project you're doing. 

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There was something we kept quiet about in our recent Shutterstock review. 

While the Shutterstock service has long been hailed as one of the best free stock photo sites on the web, there’s more to the creative platform than assets and content library. There are also a series of online companion apps, available under the banner Creative Flow+. 

• You can try Shutterstock Creative Flow+ by clicking here. 

Creative Flow+: Pricing & plans

• A service that’s included in Shutterstock subscriptions, available as a standalone product with a free trial 

Creative Flow+ is a standalone subscription, independent of the rest of Shutterstock’s offerings. Although it’s important to note that when you subscribe to one of Shutterstock’s monthly or annual plans, you’ll get Creative Flow+ included for free.

If you don’t need access to those plans, Creative Flow+ will cost you $13 per month, or $120 per year, and if you’re curious about the service, there’s a free month’s trial on offer as well, removing any reason you might have to not try it out. 

• Pricing & plans: 5/5

Creative Flow+: Getting started

• A series of apps, from scheduling to creating, all accessed from the sidebar on the left 

So what is Creative Flow+? Put simply, it’s a combination of web-based apps and graphic design software designed to help you organize yourself, and produce visual content to promote and market your business.

As such, it comes with five separate apps, all accessible from the interface’s sidebar on the left. ‘Plan’, for instance, is a calendar, made to keep you and your team organized. It’s even possible to link to collections you’ve already created to make sure all assets for a project stay together.

‘Predict’ is an AI-based tool to speed up the creation process of posts aimed at Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. In order to facilitate the process you can provide it with images from Shutterstock’s library, upload some from your own collection, or just skip that step to see what Predict can… well… predict for you. But to be honest, aside from setting the right aspect ratio for your project, it’s hard to discern what the templates on offer have that the templates available in Create don’t. Still, maybe that’s why Predict is still in beta.

‘Catalog’ offers a quick link to your collections, assets and designs, making it easy to manage them all from the same place. Which leads us to the last two which we’ll look at in greater detail below: ‘Generate’ and ‘Create’.

• Getting started: 3/5 

Creative Flow+: Generate

• AI comes to Shutterstock, with varying degrees of success, but its output isn’t part of your Creative Flow+ subscription 

AI is everywhere - and that includes Creative Flow+. If you’re familiar with the concept of text-to-image AI art generators, it’s pretty much the same here: type in a description of what you’d like to see, add as many keywords as you can think of, and click on ‘Generate’. After a few seconds you’ll be presented with four images.

Don’t like what you see? Click ‘Generate’ again, or alter your description. By default you have no ‘Style’ set, giving the AI free reign over what to produce, but you can narrow down the outcome to Photo, Art, Digital, 3D or Scene if you like, and also choose from one of the displayed keywords.

The most interesting option which caught our eye was ‘Zoom out’, available on every thumbnail. Click on its icon, and three new images will be generated from the one you selected, each slightly further away from the last, revealing more of the scene -although, for us, the last one seemed to always be more of a flight of fancy than the other two.

Those AI images are created based on the assets already in Shutterstock’s library, and your mileage will definitely vary. However, we think it’s a bit of a stretch to include it in the Creative Flow+ sidebar, as the results generated aren’t actually part of your subscription. If you like them, you’ll have to pay for them via a separate Shutterstock subscription or through the purchase of on-demand packs.

• Generate: 3/5

Creative Flow+: Create

• An impressive array of tools to design content in your browser, although there are some limitations 

‘Create’ is the real star of the show. Think of it as a simplified version of Photoshop - a Photoshop alternative that uses templates to get you started fast. You can, of course, start a design from scratch, but templates are one of the biggest draws here. There are so many to choose from, all organized by category, such as Facebook Covers, YouTube Thumbnails, and Instagram Stories. The focus is certainly on social media, but Create also has ready-made canvases for print, such as Flyers, Invitations or Brochures for instance.

But choosing the right template or canvas size is but the start. The real fun begins in Create’s editing section.

You’ll find a wealth of tools to work with. For starters, although it’s perfectly possible, you don’t need to upload your own media to Create, but have thousands of photos to choose from - whose use is included with your subscription.

Doing a search will also display results from Shutterstock’s library however, and there’s sadly no way to discern which images belong to it, and which are part of your subscription - until you add one to your project and see watermarks all over it. It would be more user-friendly if some overlay could be displayed on the thumbnail to tell us at a glance which are free and which aren’t.

Add an image to your canvas, and perhaps one of the most useful and impressive tools is ‘Remove Background’. Now of course, the more uncluttered the background, the easier it will be for Create to excise the foreground from it, and we did encounter some whose composition was too complex for Create to handle. However when it works, it works very well, and you’re given some simple tools to refine the results.

You also have a selection of ‘Pro Effects’ at your disposal - they’re fun to use but they have no obvious editable options. You can color correct your image of course, crop it, erase sections, or even animate their appearance onto your canvas, should you be working on a project that supports such action.

There’s a wealth of graphics you can add and customize, a selection of brushes for freehand drawing, and a vast choice of fonts you can add to your project. And everything is layer-based, meaning you can reorder objects with ease, lock them into place, or even delete them altogether.

Of course, Create can’t hope to compete with dedicated software, but the wealth of features found in those programs can be overwhelming, especially if you’re new to content creation (or you just need to build a lot of assets fast).

Yet here you have in your hands a lot of options that can help you create relatively complex designs in very little time, ready to download and use to promote your work or product. It’s also effortless to duplicate your project (via Catalog) so you can work on a different version, or set up personal templates in that way, to speed up any future projects you might wish to produce.

• Create: 4.5/5 

Creative Flow+: Scorecard

Should I try?

Try it if...

You need access to royalty free images to design projects quickly online, organize yourself, plan with other members of your team, and get AI help to predict the next trend. 

Don't try it if...

You’re not enamored with getting yet another subscription service, and would need the sort of powerful tools found in the best photo editors and dedicated software.

Arthur C. Clarke once said: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." What he didn't follow up with is this – What if there was an entire show based on that sentence? 

If he did, it would be Mrs. Davis. The new Peacock exclusive, which starts airing April 20, is about a lot of things. And when I saw a lot, I mean a lot. Technology and AI, manhood and masculinity, religion, zealotry, blind devotion, faith, commercialism, the joy of quirky non-sequiturs, and how even powerful algorithms can get things very, very wrong are all explored thematically here. 

After watching the first few action and in-action-filled episodes, I initially struggled to understand the point of all of it. Eventually, however, the puzzle pieces began slotting into place in fascinating fashion.

I'd like to tell you a lot more about the eight-episode series (which I watched in full), but much of what I want to say will spoil the multitude of surprises (small and very big), secrets, and Easter eggs hidden within the action-fantasy-dramedy. If you don't want me peeling away the many layers of the onion in front of you, stop reading and check out Mrs. Davis for yourself. Otherwise, here we go.

Potential Mrs. Davis spoilers follow.

The title doesn't describe the show's star Betty Gilpin (Glow), who plays Simone, a horse- and motorcycle-riding nun. Instead, that's the name of what is ostensibly the show's other main character, an artificial intelligence (AI) that's often unironically referred to as "her" or, derisively by Simone as "it." It clearly prefers "Mrs. Davis," though it does go by other names around the world, including "Madonna."

Think of the titular AI as the logical conclusion of Siri and Alexa. Or, more accurately, ChatGPT, Bard, or Bing AI. Rather than a handful of people using the chatbot to answer the occasional question or help them finish that KPI report, Mrs. Davis is ubiquitous and streaming to everyone's ears through a wide variety of Bluetooth earbuds (I noticed AirPods and other brands). Her (its) role though is somewhat different than a dispassionate AI from Google or OpenAI. Instead, Mrs. Davis is deeply involved in people's happiness quotient, which is measured by gaining their wings. Not physical wings, but digital ones that you can see on someone's back when you view them via your phone's AI filter. People gain their wings by fulfilling a quest dictated by Mrs. Davis.

Simone appears to hate Mrs. Davis and, initially at least, is the rare human who refuses to sport earbuds and speak to the AI/algorithm. The AI expresses its displeasure by sending a mysterious collection of oddballs (all people hoping to earn wings) after her, and by destroying her convent's jam business, which results in all the nuns being cast to the winds. Hey, you were warned that Mrs. Davis was a weirdly positioned show, rather than your typical kind of television offering.

The series has a lot of characters who drop in and out, and the purpose and point of anything isn't abundantly clear until the third episode. What, for instance, is the obsession with magic? Why is Simone a nun who also insists she's married? As the saying goes, all will be revealed. And, as the show peels away the layers of confusion, it also becomes more compelling. There's a quest for Simone and, yes, it does involve the Holy Grail, and finding said grail could result in Mrs. Davis ending itself.

The trio of main characters is completed by Wiley (Jake McDorman), Simone's childhood friend, ex-boyfriend, and possible adversary. Okay, there may also be a fourth, key character – Jay (Andy McQueen), who runs a diner frequented by Simone and where she gets a lot of her marching orders. The cast of supporting characters is equally strong with the likes of Margo Martindale (The Americans) and Katja Herbers (Evil).

It takes some time for the cast to gel, possibly because there's so much storytelling and elements crammed into each episode. That's despite the fact that some hour-long episodes can feel a bit sluggish, too. Episode 3's way-too-long giant sword sequence carried the water for a lot of exposition and flashbacks. Every once in a while, you're left pining for a little linear storytelling.

Where are we going with this?

The dystopian view of AI is one that audiences will likely lap up, but I kept waiting for a revelation about the people behind the curtain, i.e. the individuals responsible for Mrs. Davis itself. 

While that's not exactly the point of the show, we learn how magic abhors a truth-teller. The algorithm – or, more specifically Mrs. Davis – killed magic performances. If you want to know the secret behind any trick, you just ask, which is an obvious commentary on the corrosive power of AI. Later, we hear one of the AI's most revealing statements: "My users aren't responsive to the truth. They're much more responsive when I tell them exactly what they want to hear" – which begs the question: Is there a creator at all?

There are other big reveals that I'd rather not get into because I think they ruin some of the series' best bits and deepest thoughts about technology, magic, and religion; three things that have far more in common than you might initially think.

The gimlet tech perspective, the show's puzzle-like nature, and even some of the mystical and religious elements should not come as a surprise considering the show was created and written by Tara Hernandez, (HBO Max's The Big Bang Theory) and Damon Lindelof (Lost, one of the best Disney Plus shows). And, like that latter show, Mrs. Davis can get lost in the sometimes ponderous plot. Some of the show's most head-slappingly startling moments can be traced to writer Jonny Sun. The author-illustrator is well known online for his best-selling book Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too, a graphic novel that, with its themes of an alien's search for meaning and happiness, is at least Mrs. Davis-adjacent. The good news is that Gilpin's strong, emotional presence provides a sort of magnetic core that one happily spins back to. When she's not on the screen, which is rare, the show can flag.

I found myself equally intrigued and frustrated by Mrs. Davis. It stacks absurdity upon absurdity, while always mixing in yet another level of mystery. The AI is omnipresent but because it lacks a physical presence, it can also feel somewhat absent from the series. Without the titular AI driving the plot forward, Mrs. Davis sometimes just spins around Simone or Wiley without going anywhere.

Like Poker Face, one of Peacock's best TV originals, one might argue that every minute of Mrs. Davis is meaningful and any word, image, or tableau ignored is a clue missed. Whether it can survive under the weight of its own intricacies or the constantly winking nature of its exposition remains to be seen. I enjoyed it and was only 60% certain I ever truly understood what the hell was going on – and I'm okay with that.

Mrs. Davis' first four episodes launch on Peacock on Thursday, April 20.