Skylum (formerly Macphun Technology)

Originally founded as Macphun Technology, Skylum transitioned into a market leader in AI-based digital photography by 2026 with its flagship platform, Luminar Neo. The technical architecture revolves around a proprietary modular engine that utilizes neural networks for semantic segmentation—allowing the software to distinguish between sky, water, human subjects, and foreground elements with pixel-level precision. In 2026, Skylum has integrated advanced Generative AI capabilities, including GenErase, GenSwap, and GenExpand, which leverage diffusion models optimized for local hardware acceleration (M-series Silicon and NVIDIA RTX). Positioned as the primary alternative to Adobe's ecosystem, Skylum focuses on removing the steep learning curve of traditional masking and retouching. Its infrastructure supports high-bit-depth RAW processing and complex layer-based editing while offloading compute-heavy generative tasks to a hybrid cloud-local model. The software is widely used by professional photographers for its specific 'AI-assist' features that automate mundane tasks like power-line removal, skin blemish reduction, and relighting scenes based on 3D depth maps generated from 2D images.