Sony's awful 'AI Camera Assistant' for Xperia is the final boss of the worst camera trend [Gallery]

Yes, Sony actually seems to think that image you’re seeing above looks better after running through an “AI Camera Assistant.” In promoting its new Xperia 1 VIII, Sony is rightfully seeing backlash around the output of these new AI changes – and I can’t help but think about how this is just the worst possible form of the problem facing so many modern smartphone cameras.

AI is in everything now, but “machine learning” – essentially AI before it became a buzzword – is what unlocked the magic of computational photography years ago. It took the smartphone camera sensor which, by the laws of physics, couldn’t be perfect, and made it a whole lot better. But, now that the focus is on throwing more AI at every problem, the cameras in our pockets are continuing to evolve.

Cut to Sony, which has introduced the “AI Camera Assistant” in its new Xperia flagship.

Sony explains:

The new AI Camera Assistant with Xperia Intelligence helps you bring your vision to life. It suggests various expressive options with different adjustments to create memorable photos. Combined with a new Telephoto camera sensor that’s nearly 4 times larger than before, every photo will make a memory you’ll want to keep and share.

In examples shared by Sony, everything is drastically brighter with less color and contrast throughout. Rightfully so, Sony is being almost universally criticized for the implementation on social media.

Here are the examples shared:

Oof.

While this is a particularly bad example – to the point where one really has to ask if Sony switched the shots – it follows the trend of what we’ve been seeing in a lot of smartphone cameras over the past few years. Oversharpened photos that are brighter and have everything in the shot at the same level of brightness are everywhere, on purpose, and this just feels like the “final boss” of that movement. Sony is actively crushing detail, changing colors, and ruining the shot here.

Just this week, Google showed off a new “Smart enhance” tool coming to the Instagram Edits app on Android and, lo and behold, it’s the same problem yet again – an image where all of the shadows are brightened to match the subject for a flat and frankly boring picture. It’s sharper and more eye-catching, sure, but it’s also worse the longer you look at it.

Objectively, Google’s new tool with Instagram isn’t nearly as bad as what Sony is showing off here, but it’s another example of the same camera trend. We’ve talked specifically about how Google Pixel has fallen into a far lesser version of this in recent years, with the contrast-y look of past models having disappeared in recent years for these flatter and less vibrant images.

The Pixel camera is still consistent, it’s still good, but having recently spent time with the Oppo Find X9 Ultra and Motorola Razr Fold, two phones that make very clear choices in how photos look, I’m once again reminded about how Google has been pushing this same problem that Sony is leaning into – again, Sony is pushing this far to the extreme, to the point of embarassment.

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