And now, with the trend of AI, smartphones are joining in as one of the focuses of debate about what it really means to photograph reality.
Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro
Google has recently launched their latest smartphones, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro which are making a revolution. They are incorporating AI technology to help users alter their expressions in photographs.
It is not a new thing for people to realize they failed to smile in a group photo, as they turned away from the camera just at the right moment. With the help of machine learning, Google's phones can now search through that image and combine diverse facial expressions to add a smile from another photo of the subject. Google has named this feature ‘Best Take.’
The Google devices can also enable users to erase, move or resize unwanted elements in a photo such as people or buildings, and then use a feature called Magic Editor to "fill in" the empty space. This makes use of a technique called deep learning, which is essentially an artificial intelligence algorithm that determines what textures should fill the gap by analyzing the nearby pixels it can see and utilizing knowledge it has gained from millions of other photographs.
Any image in a user's Google Photos collection, not necessarily only the ones taken by their phone, can be edited using the alleged Magic Editor or Best Take while using the Pixel 8 Pro.
‘Icky and Creepy’
The aforementioned technology is however raising certain doubts among tech critics and reviewers on how users take photographs, calling Google’s new AI technology ‘icky (The Verge)’ and ‘creepy’(Tech Radar). According to Cnet, the technology has the potential to "pose serious threats to people's (already fragile) trust of online content.”
Andrew Pearsall, a professional photographer, and senior lecturer in Journalism at the University of South Wales, has also agreed that AI manipulations may possess dangers.
"One simple manipulation, even for aesthetic reasons, can lead us down a dark path," he said.
According to Pearsall, the risks were higher for those who are using AI in professional settings, while there were implications for everyone to consider. "You've got to be very careful about 'When do you step over the line? […] It's quite worrying now you can take a picture and remove something instantly on your phone. I think we are moving into this realm of a kind of fake world," he said.
However, Google's Isaac Reynolds, who leads the team developing the camera systems on the firm's smartphones, emphasized that the company has taken ethical considerations of its customer technology seriously. He clears that Best Take is in fact not ‘faking’ anything.
The company's ability to compete with Samsung, Apple, and other companies depends on the quality of its cameras and software, and these AI features are considered a differentiator. All of the reviewers who expressed worries about the technology also lauded the camera system's photographs for their high quality.
"You can finally get that shot where everyone's how you want them to look- and that's something you have not been able to do on any smartphone camera, or on any camera, period," Reynolds said. "If there was a version [of the photo you've taken] where that person was smiling, it will show it to you. But if there was no version where they smiled, yeah, you won't see that."
According to Mr. Reynolds, the final image serves as a "representation of a moment". According to Mr. Reynolds, the final image serves as a "representation of a moment". In other words, even though that particular moment may not have actually occurred, it is the picture one wanted to happen, that was created from different real moments.