PANTONE Swirls Into AI With ‘Palette Generator’ Powered By Microsoft & Data
Image courtesy of PANTONE
PANTONE has dipped its brush into artificial intelligence for the first time to help clear some shades of doubt for those stuck on which hues to choose. The color authority has joined forces with Microsoft to launch the Pantone Palette Generator, an AI-powered assistant that helps designers create color palettes instantly, powered by the same tech behind Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI.
The new tool, now available in beta within PANTONE Connect, offers users an interactive, chat-based way to explore and build color palettes. It pulls from the company’s extensive archives of color science, psychology, and trend forecasting, responding to prompts such as “show me colors inspired by ‘70s editorials” or “find tones that express Gen Z optimism” for visually rich yet data-driven results.
Image courtesy of PANTONE
Image courtesy of PANTONE
The generator aims to simplify creative workflows, particularly the early stages of brainstorming and experimentation, by allowing users to generate, refine, and share color concepts within a single platform, all while drawing on the institute’s proprietary trend and emotional insight data.
“For over 60 years, PANTONE has empowered creatives to confidently make color-critical decisions throughout their design process,” says PANTONE president Sky Kelley. “By collaborating with Microsoft, we wanted to create a tool that helps jumpstart the research, discovery, and inspiration phase of the design process—allowing designers to integrate color and trend data efficiently as they bring their visions to life.”
Image courtesy of PANTONE
The technology behind the tool is powered by Microsoft’s Azure AI suite, including Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Search, and Cosmos DB, which enable cross-platform scalability and data security. Its Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) modelalso ensures that responses are informed by verified PANTONE resources, grounding AI suggestions in real trend and color data.
At present, the Palette Generator supports PANTONE’s Fashion, Home & Interiors library, with plans to expand across its full catalog. The company also plans future integrations, including the ability to build palettes around the PANTONE Color of the Year 2026 and all past selections. Designers can save and export palettes for collaboration, shortening the time between inspiration and execution.
Image courtesy of PANTONE
On a related note, the company recently updated its Adobe extension with a new Design Mode, improving navigation based on user feedback. These changes are primed to offer creatives a wider toolkit for color interaction, with less manual searching. Inspiration, it seems, might just be a chat away.
[via PANTONE, images courtesy and featured with permission]
