04:42
Photoshop
Photoshop's new Remove Background and Generate Background tools (in the Contextual Task Bar) let users cut out a subject and generate a photorealistic new background from a text prompt in a few clicks, and by combining this with manual layer-mask work a user can keep part of the original photo untouched while letting AI generate the rest.
Remove Background is a one-click tool in the Contextual Task Bar described as "basically a select subject mixed with a layer mask" — it selects the subject and puts it on a layer mask automatically.
After Remove Background is applied, a new Generate Background option appears, letting the user type a text prompt (e.g. "busy City street") and click Generate to produce an AI-generated background behind the cut-out subject.
Import Background is offered as a plain alternative that just places an existing image behind the subject without trying to blend it in.
In the demo, the AI-generated "busy City street" background produced convincing shadows and an out-of-focus background, and left the subject's original box element intact.
A manual technique is demonstrated for partial background replacement: duplicate the remove-background layer, redo Remove Background, then use the Rectangular Marquee tool to select the bottom (floor) of the image, target the layer mask, and fill that selection with white to restore the original floor pixels before generating a new background ("rooftop big city skyscraper") for the rest of the scene.
This selective technique keeps the preserved region (the floor) "100% real" because it stays actual photography, while the rest of the background is AI-generated.
A new Upscale tool is introduced, which enhances detail and is described as making the generated background "look a little bit more realistic."
The video groups the original photo, the full-background-replacement result, and the partial-replacement result together to show that users can either completely replace the background or replace just part of it.
Remove Background — A one-click Photoshop tool in the Contextual Task Bar that runs a subject-selection detection and automatically outputs it as a layer mask, cutting the subject away from its background. Apply: With the image layer selected, click Remove Background in the Contextual Task Bar to instantly generate a subject cutout on a layer mask.
Generate Background — An AI feature that appears after Remove Background is applied, generating a new photorealistic background behind the cut-out subject from a typed text prompt. Apply: After removing the background, type a description (e.g. "busy City street") into the Generate Background field and click Generate to produce several AI background variants to choose from.
Import Background — A non-AI alternative to Generate Background that simply places an existing image behind the subject without blending it into the scene. Apply: Use Import Background instead of Generate Background when you already have a specific background image to drop in as-is, without AI-driven blending.
Selective background replacement (marquee + mask fill) — A manual workaround combining Remove Background with the Rectangular Marquee tool and mask-filling to keep one region of the original photo (e.g. the floor) as unedited photography while AI generates the rest of the background. Apply: After running Remove Background, use the Rectangular Marquee tool to select the region to preserve, target the layer mask, fill that selection with white to restore the original pixels there, then run Generate Background so only the unselected area is AI-generated.
Upscale — A new AI tool that enhances image detail and resolution to make a generated background look more realistic. Apply: Click Upscale on the generated result to enhance detail and increase realism in the AI-generated portion of the image.
Generate Background is presented as a combination of existing technologies chained together ("just a couple of different Technologies coming together") rather than a single new AI model — the novelty framed by the video is mainly the unified one-click workflow/button.
The selective-preservation trick (marquee-select a region, then fill the mask with white) is a way to force part of an AI-edited image to remain literal, unaltered photography — a controllable boundary between "real" and "generated" pixels within the same layer mask.
Re-running Remove Background on a duplicated layer lets the user reuse the same subject cutout without redoing the base selection work, before layering manual mask edits on top.
The comments reveal that Generate Background's UI entry point is not reliably visible by default for viewers (multiple top comments report never seeing the prompt option), which the video does not address despite being central to reproducing the demo — the fix, per commenters, is enabling it via Window > Contextual Task Bar.
«cutting your subject out and adding a new background has never been easier with the brand new remove background and generate background Tools in Photoshop»
— 00:00
«remove background now this is basically a select subject mixed with a layer mask»
— 00:27
«basically just a couple of different Technologies coming together but we have a new button so we got to celebrate that»
— 01:02
«this part is going to be absolutely perfect but I can generate whatever I want back here»
— 00:48
«we now have an upscale so let's go ahead and click on this upscale it's enhancing the detail and it's going to make it look a little bit more realistic in the background»
— 00:45
Reception
Viewers appreciate the feature but are frustrated by lack of explanation on how to access it, with many unable to find the tool shown in the tutorial.
A concise, hands-on demo that clearly conveys what Remove Background, Generate Background, and Upscale each do and shows a clever manual trick for partial background replacement, but it skips how to surface the Contextual Task Bar in the first place, which the audience comments show was a major stumbling block.
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