Apple, Qualcomm, and the AI Photo Editing Debate: Balancing Reality and Fantasy

Qualcomm Says it's 'Not as Simple' as a Real Photo or a Fake Photo

The advancement of AI technology has raised a question that once had an easy answer: What is a photograph? Samsung sparked controversy earlier this year when its Head of Customer Experience Patrick Chomet argued that there "is no such thing as a real picture." Now Qualcomm, a company that provides system-on-chip semiconductor products for smartphones via its Snapdragon series, has entered into the debate. "It's an interesting question because the human brain is not digital," Qualcomm's Senior Vice President Chis Patrick said at a roundtable interview at the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii this week, per Tech Radar. "When you perceive the sunset outside, you don't perceive the sunset absent of context. You know where you are. You know what you're smelling. You know what you're hearing, You know what you're feeling. You know what a sunset looks like, right? All of that is part of how you perceive the space. "So then, when we capture an image, should it just be the raw response from the sensor? Or is it right to include context in how that picture is created? I'm not an expert. I don't have a PhD in this topic, but I do think it's not as simple as a real image and a fake image. I think context matters, and extracting the very best we can from the whole situation is an accurate reflection of what the eye and the brain do as well." It's quite a confusing answer and one to dwell on. However, Tech Radar reports that Patrick continued by saying that a fake picture of someone on the Moon should be clearly labeled as AI-generated. "So, for us, it's very clear that there has to be some mechanism to distinguish the other extreme -- those manipulated images -- for people. We're building incredible technology together but we want to make sure that, in the end, it does not have a destructive impact, where people can no longer tell the difference between truth and fiction," adds Patrick. While professionals and photo editing experts have been able to manipulate images for decades, the technology is now being made readily available to just about anyone via tools such as Google's Magic Eraser and Apple's Clean Up tool. Smartphone manufacturers are having to think hard about how far they should go with AI photos. Yesterday, Apple said that it wants to keep smartphone photos true to reality.

'It's not as simple as real image and fake image': Qualcomm weighs in on AI photo editing debate

Google's Magic Eraser (above) is just one example of AI editing tools (Image credit: Google) I felt like I opened a can of worms when I asked Samsung about its stance on AI photo editing at Galaxy Unpacked back in January. "There is no such thing as a real picture," Patrick Chomet, Samsung's Head of Customer Experience, told me at the time - a nihilism-tinged soundbite that, in fairness, came as part of a nuanced and perfectly valid philosophical commentary on the nature of photography (in the same interview, Chomet rightly talked up the importance of validating authenticity). Marques Brownlee recently included Chomet's quote in an X post highlighting the differing opinions of Samsung, Apple, and Google on this very subject. Still, ultimately, all of the major phone manufacturers are offering similar editing features (Magic Eraser, Clean Up, AI Eraser, and so on). Qualcomm, for its part, acknowledges that AI photo editing is an exciting new frontier but also one fraught with awkward ethical implications. During a roundtable interview at Snapdragon Summit, the company's Mobile Handset SVP, Chris Patrick, explained why he believes that AI photo editing "is not as simple as a real image and fake image." "It's an interesting question, because the human brain is not digital," the former engineer explained. "When you perceive the sunset outside, you don't perceive the sunset absent of context. You know where you are. You know what you're smelling. You know what you're hearing, You know what you're feeling. You know what a sunset looks like, right? All of that is part of how you perceive the space." "So then, when we capture an image, should it just be the raw response from the sensor? Or is it right to include context in how that picture is created? I'm not an expert. I don't have a PhD in this topic, but I do think it's not as simple as a real image and fake image. I think context matters, and extracting the very best we can from the whole situation is an accurate reflection of what the eye and the brain do as well." "[However]," Patrick continued, "if there's a picture of Rui [Guo, Honor CMO, also in attendance at the roundtable] and I on the moon, it should be very clear that that is not, in fact, a picture of Rui and I on the moon. That's not correct - that's manipulated. "So, for us, it's very clear that there has to be some mechanism to distinguish the other extreme - those manipulated images - for people. We're building incredible technology together but we want to make sure that, in the end, it does not have a destructive impact, where people can no longer tell the difference between truth and fiction." Honor CMO Rui Guo also attended the Snapdragon Summit roundtable, having just announced that the Honor Magic 7 Pro - slated for release in Europe next year - will launch with the industry's first on-device generative AI portrait enhancement. So, is the company using AI to make portraits appear better than they actually are? Or is the aim to mimic real-life details that Honor's hardware can't capture on its own? "On the one hand," Guo explained, "we have to make sure that the photo itself is good by modern consumer standards. Everyone knows what [constitutes] a good and bad photo. But on the other hand, we definitely want to retain the authenticity of the photo. We're not trying to Photoshop the photo for the consumer, right? We should give the authority to the users at end of the day." And that, I think, is the crux of the matter. Tools like Magic Eraser and Clean Up become ethically dubious when users - or, more worryingly, politicians - attempt to pass tampered images off as real, but as a means of occasionally removing strangers from family vacation photos, AI photo editing is, for many people, undeniably useful. Neither Qualcomm nor Honor is forcing these tools onto their consumers - if you want to take a photo in the same way as you always have done, you still can. Rather, companies are giving users the freedom to choose how to capture moments that matter to them. Sure, it's a can of worms, but as Qualcomm's Chris Patrick noted, "it's not as simple as real image and fake image."

Apple explains why its approach to AI photo editing is different from rivals: Accuracy over fantasy

A hot potato: One of the many questions being raised about AI-packed smartphones relates to their ability to edit photos. At what point, for example, does an image become so altered that it no longer qualifies as a photograph? It's something Apple is well aware of, which is why Cupertino wants its editing tool to offer a more realistic result than those of its rivals. Apple's suite of artificial intelligence tools, aptly called Apple Intelligence, finally arrives on compatible devices with the launch of the iOS 18.1 update on October 28. One of the new features of Apple Intelligence is Clean Up, a tool in the Photos app that can remove people and objects from images. Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, sat down with The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern for an interview about Apple Intelligence. At one point, the reporter demos Clean Up, showing how objects such as a water bottle can be edited out of a photo. Stern then notes how some of Apple's rivals such as Samsung and Google offer more extensive AI tools that generate parts of photos. She uses the addition of a lion and an explosion created by Google Reimagine as an example. Apple doesn't allow users to add their own content to images. When asked about Apple's contrasting approach, Federighi's bottom line was "We help purvey accurate information, not fantasy." "Do we want to make it easy to remove that water bottle, or that mic? Because that water bottle was there when you took the photo," Federighi said. "The demand for people to want to clean up what seem like extraneous details to the photo that don't fundamentally change the meaning of what happened has been very very high, so we've been willing to take that small step." The advancing tech behind generative AI is making heavily edited and deepfaked images harder to identify as fakes. It's partly why Apple went in a different direction to its rivals. "Even the ability to remove that water bottle, there were lots of debates internally," Federighi said. "We are concerned that there's a great history to photography and how people view photographic content as something they can rely on is indicative of reality." Even Apple's Image Playground, which allows users to create images using concepts like themes, costumes, accessories, and places, has certain limitations. "When you look at experiences like Image Playground, we made sure that the images we were generating were not photorealistic," Federighi said. "Not because the underlying model couldn't generate something photorealistic but because we never wanted someone to have any confusion of whether Joanna was really wearing that fuzzy hat?" Some companies offering AI tools identify images as being altered in the metadata. Apple does it with those edited using Clean Up, and it also tags them in the Photos app as "Modified with Clean Up." Further highlighting the difference in approach between the two companies, Samsung responded to criticism of the Galaxy S24's AI photo-editing features in February by saying there is no such thing as a real picture.

'Accuracy over fantasy.' Apple explains why its AI photo editing isn't as incredible as Google's or Samsung's

What is a photo? It's a question that's popping up with increasing regularity as technology moves further into a dystopian AI reality. From 'deep fakes' of celebrities to inserting a lion into a photo of your office, photo editing is evolving at a rapid rate that's making a lot of people, myself included, feel uneasy. As Apple prepares to launch its suite of AI-powered tools, Apple Intelligence, which includes a new photo-editing feature called Clean Up that lets you remove objects from images, the differing approaches of tech companies are becoming clear. On one side, Google's AI editing tools allow you to completely transform an image by adding lava lakes or transforming buildings into spaceships, while on the other there's Apple's more basic approach, which can... remove a water bottle. Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, sat down with The Wall Street Journal to discuss Apple's image software approach, and he summed up Apple's approach to AI thus: "We help purvey accurate information, not fantasy." In the interview, WSJ's Joanna Stern demonstrates how Clean Up works, by removing an intrusive water bottle from the edge of an image. Federighi explains that "even the ability to remove that water bottle, there were lots of debates internally. "Do we want to make it easy to remove that water bottle or that mic? Cause that water bottle was there when you took the photo. The demand for people who want to clean up what seemed like extraneous details to the photo that don't fundamentally change the meaning of what happened has been very, very high. And so, you know, we were willing to take that small step." Federighi goes on to explain that Apple is constantly thinking about the impact these AI features can make on reality, and limits the extent to which users can alter images. "We are concerned that there's a great history to photography and how people view photographic content as something they can rely on is indicative of reality." One way the company does this is by including any edits to a photo with Apple Intelligence's Clean Up in the Photos app metadata for that image. This is something I've talked about at length with an Android user colleague, as I wanted to know if this approach to understand whether or not a photo has been AI-altered is specific to Apple, or employed by Google and Samsung too. It turns out, Apple is one of the few smartphone companies taking this approach with Google opting for changes in the metadata on Pixels which isn't as clear for end users - something I wish existed across all social media platforms and smartphone software as photo editing enters new murkier waters. It's not just photo editing where Apple has taken this thoughtful, if perhaps over-cautious approach. "When you look at experiences like Image Playground, we made sure that the images we were generating were not photorealistic," Federighi said. "Not because the underlying model couldn't generate something photorealistic but because we never wanted someone to have any confusion of whether Joanna was really wearing that fuzzy hat?" It's an interesting insight into how Apple views AI-powered photo editing, and stands in stark contrast to Samsung's claim that "There is no such thing as a real picture." Many have questioned Apple's approach to AI, with Apple Intelligence taking its sweet time to arrive on devices. Some feel that Apple is late to the party and playing catch-up, but time will tell if the company's tailored approach goes down well with users, or if its limited AI tools don't quite scratch the same itch as the mind-bending, reality-altering approach of others.

Apple Wants to Keep Smartphone Photos True to Real Life

Apple wants to keep smartphone photos true to reality and doesn't want to go as far as some of its competitors, such as Google's Magic Editor. During an interview with The Wall Street Journal about Apple Intelligence, the company's senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi said, "It's important to us that we help purvey accurate information, not fantasy." However, that hasn't stopped Apple from rolling out Clean Up for iOS 18.1, a feature on the Photos app that lets users remove objects from an image. "There was a lot of debate internally," explains Federighi. "Do we want to make it easy to remove that water bottle or that mic because that water bottle was there when you took that photo?" Federighi says there was "very very high" demand for an editing tool that removes "extraneous details" that don't "fundamentally change the meaning" of the image. However, Federighi says Apple is concerned about the technology and its effect on photography, which he says has a "great history." "How people view photographic content as something they can rely on is indicative of reality and our products, our phones, are used a lot and it's important to us that we help purvey accurate information, not fantasy," says Federighi. When a change to a photo has been made the metadata is updated so that alterations are clearly marked. While Clean Up is available on iOS 18, what iPhone users can't do is add AI-generated elements into a picture the way Samsung and Google users can. In PetaPixel's review of the Google Pixel 9 Pro, editor-in-chief Jaron Schneider noted that when using the Magic Edtior, "We didn't notice any kind of indication on-screen that an image was AI generated and the results that it outputs are very realistic; you would absolutely be able to pass them off as real to many average people." The debate around what is and what isn't a photograph will conitinue on as these type of AI features proliferate across different platforms and devices. Clean Up is part of Apple Intelligence which was much vaunted during the iPhone 16 launch; the first device built "ground up" for artificial intelligence. However, so far Apple's AI features have been scarce. "You could put something out there and have it be sort of a mess. Apple's point of view is more like, 'Let's try to get each piece right and release it when it's ready,'" adds Federighi.

"It's important to us that we help purvey accurate information, not fantasy.": Apple takes a shot at the Google Pixel's AI camera features

At long last, it's Apple Intelligence time. After months of seeing features teased, the public will finally be able to try out some of what Apple's suite of AI features has to offer -- which, unfortunately, might be less than you're expecting. The Wall Street Journal sat down with Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior VP of Software Engineering, to talk about all things Apple Intelligence ahead of its iOS 18.1 rollout next week. Many of the highly-anticipated features that debuted at WWDC 2024 -- DIY emojis, a smarter Siri, and ChatGPT integration -- won't be available with iOS 18.1, and that's on purpose. Federighi told the WSJ: "You could put something out there and have it be sort of a mess. Apple's point of view is more like, 'Let's try to get each piece right and release it when it's ready.'" This is a much more methodical, safe approach compared to other companies who seem to prefer launching an AI feature first and dealing with backlash later (*cough* Google). And when it comes to generative AI in photos, specifically, Apple has a much different approach compared to Google -- a differing approach they're not afraid to highlight, apparently. When it comes to AI and photos, the difference in approach between Google and Apple can't be more stark. For instance, features like the Pixel's Best Take combine multiple photos, mixing and matching faces from different images, to create a "best overall" picture, while Magic Editor alters pictures' background, moves objects or people, and can fully delete objects from an image. Similar to Google's Magic Eraser tool, there will be an Apple Intelligence tool that lets you remove unwanted parts of a photo, but that's where the similarities stop. The WSJ writes Federighi told the WSJ: "People view photographic content as something they can rely on as indicative of reality," Federighi said. "It's important to us that we help purvey accurate information, not fantasy." He further explained, "This is a many-year, honestly, even decadeslong arc of this technology playing out, and so we're going to do it responsibly." So for now, iOS 18.1 will feature a neat clean-up tool for photos, notification summaries, a basic Writing Tools feature, and helpful how-to guides direct from Siri. All the other exciting features we've seen teased from Apple will come in time, but it's clear Apple won't be rushing to release them before they're ready.