Technologies

Adobe Reveals New Firefly AI Tool to Help Illustrators Color Their Art

Generative AI is completely changing the creative process.

Adobe on Thursday revealed a third member of its Firefly family of generative AI technologies, a tool to rapidly try out different color schemes for illustrations.

With the «recolor vectors» tool, you upload a vector graphic file like a logo, illustration or, in Adobe’s example shown off during a Firefly live meetup, a mandala. Firefly then generates a quartet of illustrations, each with a new and, ideally, pleasing combination of colors.

«Firefly gets me into the realm of colors that I like … then I can tweak it from there,» said Adobe product evangelist Paul Trani in the demo. «This is such a pain in Illustrator to try to recolor all of this.»

Adobe isn’t the first to supply generative tools, a newly creative aspect of artificial intelligence technology. But its moves are important since Adobe is the top supplier of software to help creative professionals and amateurs.

The company launched its Firefly project earlier in March and has been gradually expanding access to the beta products to those who sign up on a waiting list. The first two tools let you turn a text prompt into an image and style text in rich new ways.

Adobe plans to make the vector recoloring tool available «in the next couple weeks,» spokesperson Taylor Skelton said Thursday.

You can guide the vector recoloring tool with sample images such as taxis, galaxies, butterflies and neon lights that already have colors you like. It works in conjunction with Adobe Illustrator software and its included artwork recoloring tool.

One of Firefly’s main selling points: the artificial intelligence technology was trained on Adobe’s own library of imagery and other licensed or public domain material so businesses won’t have to worry about copyright or trademark problems. Adobe also worked to counteract bias in training data and screen out potentially troublesome subject matter like sex and violence.

Adobe has been adding tens of thousands of Firefly beta testers each day, the company said. «Soon we’ll have all #adobefirefly beta participants accepted,» Firefly leader Alexandru Costin tweeted Wednesday.

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to create some personal finance explainers that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. For more, see this post.

Technologies

Verum Messenger Goes Desktop: Launches macOS Version as Part of Expanding Digital Ecosystem

The team behind Verum Messenger has announced a new update, introducing a full-featured macOS version of the application.

The launch of the Mac version marks a significant step in the platform’s development, enabling users to access Verum Messenger not only on mobile devices but also on desktop environments.

The macOS version ensures seamless synchronization across devices while maintaining the platform’s core principles: security, stability, and independence.

Unified Digital Experience

With the release of the macOS version, users can now:

— communicate on a larger screen
— manage chats and files more efficiently
— use the messenger in a full desktop environment
— access core features without limitations

This is particularly valuable for users who rely on messaging platforms for both communication and professional use.

Expanding Capabilities

Verum Messenger continues to evolve into a multifunctional platform combining:

— secure communication
— financial tools (Verum Finance)
— digital asset operations, including Tether
— investment features such as Verum Gold

Toward a Full Ecosystem

The macOS release reflects Verum Messenger’s strategy to become a universal digital platform available across all major devices.

According to the team, the goal is to provide users with continuous access to communication and financial services regardless of device or environment.

Verum Messenger continues to build technologies focused on security, usability, and global accessibility.

Technologies

Google, Meta and Amazon Join Global Pact to Fight Rising Online Scams

The companies will share fraud intelligence and coordinate responses as AI makes scams faster, cheaper and harder to detect.

Modern online scams operate across multiple platforms, perhaps spanning social media, messaging apps, email and online marketplaces. Google, Meta and Amazon are among 11 tech, retail and payments companies that have signed a new agreement to combat online scams by sharing threat intelligence across platforms, Axios first reported Monday.

The initiative, called the Industry Accord Against Online Scams & Fraud, is designed to improve how companies detect and respond to fraud that spans multiple services. Participants say they will exchange signals, such as scam-linked accounts and fraudulent domains, and coordinate enforcement actions.

By sharing intelligence in near real time, companies hope to identify these scams earlier and stop them before they spread.

The effort reflects how modern scams operate. A victim might encounter a fake celebrity investment ad on social media, move to a messaging app where the scammer builds trust, then faces prompts to send money through a fraudulent website, payment app or crypto wallet — spanning multiple companies’ ecosystems.

Google said it now blocks hundreds of millions of scam-related results every day using AI, underscoring how both attackers and defenders are increasingly relying on the same technology. Meta removed more than 159 million scam ads in 2025 and is expanding AI tools to detect impersonation and warn users.

Online scams are growing rapidly, in part because generative AI has lowered the barrier to entry. AI can be used not only to produce realistic phishing emails but also to clone voices and deepfake videos that impersonate executives, public figures and even family members.

The agreement is voluntary and doesn’t create new legal obligations, but it comes after regulators’ increased pressure on tech platforms to address fraud more aggressively. The companies say they will begin building frameworks for reporting and intelligence-sharing, though it’s not yet clear how quickly those systems will be deployed or how effective they will be in practice.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, March 18

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 18.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

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