Google Photos Will Let You Completely Change Your Pictures with AI
Google is adding generative artificial intelligence (AI) into its Photos app in a feature called Magic Editor. In short, it allows users to completely change the content of their photos.
The company says that Magic Editor will allow users to make complex edits to their photos to the level of a professional editor but with very little effort. Google says Magic Editor uses a mix of generative AI and other AI technologies to allow anyone to make specific edits to an image, such as a subject, sky, or background, which can result in wholesale changes to what a photo shows.
For example, Google shows off how the technology is capable of moving the subject of a photo to the right, allows the people in the background to be completely removed, a purse strap to be deleted, and a sky to be completely swapped out in just a few motions.
The company goes even further with its second example. In addition to changing out the sky, Magic Editor is able to create content where there was none. Specifically, it is able to complete a bunch of balloons and extend a bench outward from its original position, dramatically changing the original image.
“Using Magic Editor, you’ll also be able to create new content to fill in the gaps after repositioning your subject. Take this picture of a boy on his birthday,” Google says.
“It’s a good photo but it could be better if he was front and center. With the power of generative AI, you can create more of the bench and balloons to fill in those gaps, and they’ll blend seamlessly into your photo. The end result? A stunning shot that captures the feeling of his big day.
In short, Google is giving the average person the ability to alter reality, at least in photos. Given how seamless the company is making it appear, it will theoretically be possible to not only change the context of an image, but also recreate it to fit a narrative that is outside of what actually happened.
Magic Editor will be coming to Pixel phones first later this year in early access, which seems to indicate Google plans to roll out the feature more widely down the road.
Image credits: Google
