Released in early access last year, Skybox AI is an online tool based on artificial intelligence that allows generating 360-degree panoramic images for use as backgrounds in games or DCC applications. The Unity plugin enables skybox generation from the game engine, and developers provide an API for integration with other software.
According to Blockade Labs, over one and a half million users have already tried this program, and while most of them are enthusiasts or people simply testing the technology, it has been used in demos by NVIDIA, Accenture, and T-Mobile. The appearance and content of the environment are determined by textual cues and the ability to add a rough sketch to create a scene layout.

Users can choose from several pre-set artistic styles, including stylized and more realistic ones suitable for games, animation, and matte painting. There's also a preset for creating celestial domes without ground objects, which can be used as regular skyboxes.
After creating the environment, it can be exported as an equirectangular PNG or JPEG image with a corresponding depth map or as a cubemap. There's an option to export images in EXR and HDR formats, although when this option was first introduced, the generated files weren't actually high dynamic range images. There's also an experimental new option called Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) for creating a 3D mesh of the environment based on a 2D image, which can be exported in GLB format.
The new AI Model 3 allows generating much larger and more detailed images, increasing the resolution for equirectangular images from 6K (6144 x 3072px) to 8K. Currently, it comes with fewer pre-set styles than AI Model 2, which is still available alongside it, and you cannot blend or edit images created with it or generate 3D meshes from them. It's likely that the service has already officially exited the beta phase, as there's no longer a pop-up window with the beta version changelog when accessing the website.

Skybox AI is browser-based, so it should work on standard modern web browsers, although some features are available only on desktop computers or larger tablets. The Unity integration plugin is compatible with Unity 2021.3.11 and above. Users with free accounts can generate up to 15 skyboxes per month, but a paid subscription is required to download them.

The Basic subscription costs $12 per month or $120 per year and allows generating and downloading up to 100 skyboxes per month under the CC BY license. The Pro subscription costs $24 per month or $240 per year and allows generating and downloading up to 250 skyboxes per month, with full commercial licensing. The Technowizard subscription costs $60 per month or $576 per year, has no limits on the number of assets generated, and includes experimental features such as 3D mesh generation.