P: The generative fill in Photoshop 26.0.0 is definitely worse than in previous versions.

[RedFishBlack]

The quality has dropped to an unusable level. Textures that were rendered beautifully in previous versions now sometimes appear smudged or as if painted in with a brush. There are far more nonsensical fills—like birds randomly appearing in hair or clothes, and extra hands in bizarre places when the image already has two! It’s like AI gone wrong. What happened to quality control? How does the AI actually get worse? This is beyond frustrating.

To make things worse, the newest update deleted my older versions, even though the "delete older versions" checkbox was unchecked. It's incredibly frustrating to lose those versions without consent.

[RedFishBlack]

Photoshop 25 above and photoshop 26.0.0 below:

I've noticed a definite decline in the quality of the Generative Fill feature in the latest version of Photoshop (26.0.0).I used the prompt "hair" on a selection, and the result was a lot of flowers instead of realistic hair and the quality is pixelated.. However, when I tried the same selection and prompt in a previous version, it produced as I am used to almost perfect hair texture. This change has impacted the quality of the output significantly.

[RedFishBlack]

Same here. Ps 26.0.0 produces smudges textures with generative fill. The previous version works perfectly

[RedFishBlack]

The textures that generative fill produces  are  low in quality in the newest version of photoshop.

Both Versions are tested on an intel mac using Ventura and an M1 Mac using OSX Sequoia.

[defaultyfouj0olonn4]

I agree. My edits are going to take considerably longer (back in the olden days timing)!  Grass generative expand looks like garbage! Before - it blended so well! I'm with you - how did AI get worse! Hope they have a quick fix!

[RedFishBlack]

It's surprising that no one noticed the poor AI quality before it was released. I only found one person in the forums who pointed out the decline in quality during the beta version.

[lucellent]

10000x this.

The quality is pure garbage and not coherent at all, compared to the v1.

[Christian1979]

Unbelievable...

Thanks for nothing, Adobe! 😡

I'm using Photoshop 2024 now, because Photoshop 2025 is unusable!!!

[rosa_018]

I have updated to v26.0.0. After the update I am getting just black when using the generate tool.... anyone else ?

[Christian1979]

GenFill is totally broken in Photoshop 2025, not usable anymore

[careaux]

YES! Generative fill is completely broken and unusable. I am deleting the update right now and re-installing 25.

[robertw44482386]

Here to chime in that specifically from a professional retouching point of view Gen Fill has stepped futher back than the first beta. Smudges, loss of texture, no ability to continue objects, danger of a lizard or wizard or gizzard or blizzard showing up unexpectdly, as if anyone would want this kind of imagery returned. I'm glad thre is an easy workaround (downgrade) but I am perplexed as this was noted and seemingly ignored in the recent beta. And as important as Gen Fill has become in a professional workflow (client expectations have gone through the roof this year), it has rendered every other improvement in 2025 moot, as it makes no sense to have 2025 open your psds only to have to close it and open 2024 to use gen fill.

[RedFishBlack]

Hey Robert, I completely agree with your point about setting clear client expectations—it’s essential, especially now that the quality of retouching is continually rising. There’s definitely no turning back, and it’s both exciting and a bit nerve-wracking. From a professional perspective, it’s intimidating to realize how much our skill set is becoming dependent on AI. It's definitely changing the game for us in ways that are hard to predict!

[Thijs de Leeuw]

I second the drop in generative fill quality. Same thing with the remove tool, allthough a little less bad than generative fill but still worse than PS2024. The remove tool also gives program error messages when making more than a few adjustments in once. The new AI just doesn't seem stable now. Maybe this is because I'm still on intel, I don't know. I even had to upgrade from MacOS Ventura because of PS2025 gave a system requirements pop-up. Now I'm on Sequoia (way to soon) and back on PS2024. Not a happy experience. 

[RedFishBlack]

I tested the new update across multiple macOS versions, on both an Intel Mac and an M1 Apple chip, and the results showed the same poor quality.

[Stefanos33766644gwog]

Yes, i'm not able to do my work right now because of this. I'm fixing some jeans texture etc, and generative fill saved me a lot of time but now it's just not working. I can do it manually though but it takes forever. Hope they will fix it in the next hours cuz client gonna be mad.

[careaux]

I recommend downdating back to the previous version, it won't be fixed so soon I think.

[Sandy694]

I'm also really unhappy with gen fill now. Not only is the quality decreased, but everything in this update takes longer. The remove tool has also taken a serious turn for the worse. If it wasn't such a pain to drop back a version I would.

[RedFishBlack]

When I updated, my older versions were deleted, but surprisingly, when I reinstalled the previous version, all my settings were still there. So, in the end, it wasn’t an issue for me.

[AntLamb]

Yes, I agree with all these concerns. It's unusable now. Large blobby noise that isn't in the picture you're extending. Texture that isn't continued. Random irrelevant objects appearing. It really is pathetic and needs to be fixed ASAP.

[CMass]

Hey everyone,

Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention and for taking the time to share examples and feedback for Generative Fill in Photoshop 2025. I've made sure to pass everything along to the product team!

I do have a few follow-up questions to ensure we’re capturing everything discussed in this thread (and please let me know if I miss anything!):

• Is the quality issue affecting only Generative Fill?
  
  

• @RedFishBlack, I’m also raising the "delete older versions" issue you encountered with the team. I'm relieved to hear the older version was still accessible after you reinstalled.
  
  

• @rosa_018, could you share a bit more detail about the issue you’re experiencing? Screenshots would be really helpful. Is it happening with every generation or intermittently?

Thanks again for helping us improve—your feedback really does make a difference!

^CM

[Stephen Nielson]

Thanks for the feedback and examples. We are investigating this and are committed to giving you the best possible results with Generative Fill.

A few thoughts:

1.  When removing an area, we see that GenFill usually gives better results with a blank prompt (instead of "hair" or "no"). Generative models can be unpredictable, but that may help in this case.
2.  We are aware of an issue where texture quality is lower than expected, and we are investigating both short-term and long-term fixes.
3. In our internal testing, we see Image 3 Model produce higher quality results on average than the previous version. As I mentioned, generative models can be unpredictable. There are many cases where the new model is better, but there are some where the results are worse. For the next version of the Firefly model, our priorities are to deliver more consistent quality and higher resolution output.

As some have already mentioned, you can still access the old model by using Photoshop 2024 (v25.x). You are able to have both Photoshop 2024 and 2025 installed at the same time.

Thanks again for your feedback, it is very helpful!

[robertw44482386]

Thanks @Stephen Nielson for responding and acknowledging. I would have to disagree strongly with the blank prompt suggestion though. In my experience the blank prompt is MORE likely to produce a salamander or a red pepper or a tiara etc....

I have been having more success with just simply using the word "remove." This seems to quell the hallucinatory results. 

[Stephen Nielson]

@robertw44482386 good point. Yes, in some cases simply using the word "remove" is better. But usually a blank prompt or "remove" gives you are better result than trying to describe the area you are filling.

[robertw44482386]

@Stephen Nielson   I wonder what is happening that our experiences are so different. I have yet to have a good result from a blank prompt in photoshop 2025, yet "remove" almost always helps. Though nothing so far has been as good as simply reverting to 2024.

Can others chime in with their comparisons?

[RedFishBlack]

Thank you, CM and Stephen, for your responses.

I was curious as to why the drop in quality hadn’t been noticed earlier, but I appreciate the insights. I’m hopeful that the quality we had in version 26.00 will return—or even improve—with the upcoming Photoshop 25.12.0 release. Right now, unfortunately, it’s just not usable.

In terms of using prompts, I've found some interesting behavior. For example, when working on fabric textures and removing a button, including "no" in the prompt seems to improve the chances that it’s removed, compared to leaving the prompt blank. Similarly, for hair: adding the word "hair" helps fill in empty spaces with hair more reliably than an empty prompt, which can sometimes yield other gaps or unrelated textures.

The new generative fill of Photoshop 26.0.0 beyond its current quality issues, also tends to add unexpected elements into hair, like small flowers, that don’t belong in the composition.