Colourlab AI 4: Launch Dates, PIA, Pricing and Beta Questions

Colourlab has announced a 10 September 2026 reveal and a 12 September public beta for Colourlab AI 4. Its new product page describes prompt-directed grading, a Perceptual Image Analysis engine called PIA, sequence matching, and a mobile offering. These are vendor announcements; this article does not present them as tested results.

Announcement information checked 8 September 2026. I build Leumos AI, a browser grading product. This is a sourced buyer guide, not an independent hands-on review or a recommendation to replace a working production setup.

When is Colourlab AI 4 coming out?

The Colourlab homepage gives two milestones: the reveal on 10 September and the start of public beta on 12 September. A beta date is not the same as general availability or a guarantee that every announced feature is ready for production.

The official launch event on Luma is the place to check event details and registration. Its description presents AI 4 as an imaging system spanning desktop and phone. Use the event's local-time display before adding it to your calendar.

As of this check, the AI 4 product page still shows private-beta access as closed and offers a public-beta waiting list. An announcement and an access form serve different purposes: use the vendor's access instructions rather than assuming the reveal date unlocks a download.

What is PIA?

PIA stands for Perceptual Image Analysis. Colourlab describes it as an engine that considers the content, lighting, and visual context of footage. The company connects it to its new grading and matching workflow. The public description does not by itself establish accuracy or performance on your camera files. Source: Colourlab AI 4.

For a buyer, the useful question is what changes in the grade. Does it preserve a deliberate warm practical light? Can it distinguish an underexposed face from an intentional silhouette? Does the result remain stable as the subject moves? Those are trial questions, not conclusions we can draw from the engine's name.

What has Colourlab announced?

The AI 4 announcement describes three workflow changes:

• Grading through written direction: describe a desired look, with conventional grading controls still available.
• Sequence matching: group related footage and match shots across a sequence.
• Mobile access: the vendor says beta invites include Colourlab AI Mobile.

The speed and quality of these workflows remain untested here. We have not verified a supported-phone list or whether desktop and mobile have identical controls and export options.

How does AI 4 differ from Colourlab AI 3.5?

The homepage still links to the existing Colourlab Ai 3.5 offering. Its Resolve product page describes a desktop app plus plugin, image matching, and work inside Resolve. AI 4's announcement puts written direction and PIA at the centre of its pitch.

That is a difference in published positioning, not a measured comparison of the engines. Do not assume that an existing plugin, host version, purchased licence, or project transfers to AI 4 unchanged. Ask about compatibility, upgrade eligibility, and whether you can keep your current installation while evaluating the beta.

What does Colourlab AI 4 cost, and what runs it?

We have not confirmed AI 4 pricing, upgrade charges, or full system requirements from the announcement material reviewed on 8 September. The older Colourlab pricing page labels offers for other versions. Those figures are not a verified AI 4 price list.

Before paying or installing, check:

• Whether beta access is free, paid, invitation-based, or limited in duration.
• Which desktop operating systems, GPUs, phones, and host-editor versions are supported.
• Whether processing needs an internet connection and what media is transmitted or stored.
• Which input formats, output formats, resolutions, and color-management options are available.
• Whether a beta project and its grades remain usable after the beta ends.

These questions matter even if the headline matching demonstration looks convincing. A useful grade still needs a compatible delivery path and terms that fit the job.

How to evaluate the beta on your own footage

Use a duplicate project and a small set of footage you are allowed to process. Include related angles, a change of exposure, mixed lighting, and movement across a face. Keep the ungraded originals and record the software version, input transform, reference, prompt, and output settings.

Inspect more than a still frame. Play through each shot, compare both sides of every cut, and look for shifts in skin, clipped highlights, or unintended changes to coloured lighting. Then import the output into the editor or player that will receive it. Record failures as well as useful results.

Separate a creative request from a technical match. “Make this warmer” and “make these two cameras agree” need different checks: judge the first against the intended mood, and compare exposure, neutral surfaces, and skin between shots for the second. Confirm each recording’s input transform first; our log reference tool shows log code values and the exposure error caused by using the wrong log decoder.

Should you wait or use a current alternative?

If a project is due before you have tested beta access, use a workflow you can already validate. For the decision between a desktop grading tool and a browser Studio, see our Colourlab AI alternative comparison. For LUT tools, film emulation, and editor-based options, use the broader alternatives roundup.

Leumos is available now for importing footage, matching one selected shot to a reference still, reviewing it in motion, and exporting graded video. Automatic full-timeline reference matching is not available in this release; export and storage limits depend on the current plan. To evaluate that specific workflow, open Leumos Studio with a short representative clip.