AI Ambition: ArtCraft Cloned Photoshop and Now Wants to "Rebuild Everything"
· Source: Latent Space
ArtCraft, an emerging AI startup, unveiled its ambitious roadmap at the second day of the AI Engineer Code Summit in San Francisco, aiming to recreate and release to the public the most widely used creative software tools. So far the company has made 17 open‑source versions of popular applications available, including PhotoCraft, a Rust‑based alternative to Photoshop, and PdfCraft, which mimics Adobe Acrobat. Founder and CEO Brandon Thomas described the goal as “recapturing the entire Internet” and reversing the consolidation he says was imposed by the Web 2.0 era, which limited users’ ability to build and modify their own tools.
Thomas explained that developing PhotoCraft involved feeding an AI model a comprehensive description of Photoshop’s features, data structures, and workflows, enabling a functional first version to be produced in under 24 hours. While the app has not yet achieved full parity with the original— the team reports over 60 % equivalence and aims for 100 %— it has already attracted a community of roughly 4,000 developers and garnered attention from outlets such as the New York Times.
The initiative is significant because it demonstrates how AI can accelerate the creation of free software that competes with proprietary products, giving artists and designers greater control over their tools and reducing reliance on closed platforms. It also paves the way for future programs with more adaptive, user‑centric interfaces.
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