In 2024, Android phones have introduced AI-powered features that transform images in various ways, prompting users to reconsider the very nature of an image. For instance, the Google Pixel 9‘s Reimagine feature lets you completely overhaul an image—whether it’s modifying the background, altering an object, or even sketching something for AI to generate an object within a photo on Samsung Galaxy devices. It is this very photo manipulation that Apple isn’t entirely comfortable with, at least according to what Apple’s Craig Federighi told WSJ, as spotted by The Verge.
Federighi stated that Apple is wary of transforming a photo into “fantasy” and that the company debated internally about including features, such as the Clean Up tool, which is Apple’s version of Google’s Magic Eraser.
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Apple Wants to Keep Photos Real and Authentic
When using AI tools like Reimagine, you can completely transform an image into something that doesn’t exist in real life. This is the perspective from which Craig Federighi is approaching the issue.
WSJ’s Joanna Stern questioned Federighi on why, while some companies have taken an “extreme route” by allowing the generation of new elements within photos, Apple has chosen a more restrained approach.
In response, Federighi said, “Yeah, I would say, even the ability to remove that water bottle is one that there were a lot of debates about. Internally, 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? The demand for people wanting 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, you know, we were willing to take that small step, but we are concerned that there’s a great history to photography and how people view photographic content as something they can rely on as indicative of reality. Our products, our phones, are used a lot, and it’s important to us that we help purvey accurate information, not fantasy.”
He added, “We make sure that even if you do remove a little detail from a photo, we update the metadata so someone can go back and check.”
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Craig Federighi Opens Up About Apple Intelligence Delay
Apple Intelligence hasn’t launched yet but is expected to come out later next week. Expanding on this, WSJ asked Federighi about the limited Apple Intelligence features compared to what was revealed in June 2024 (at WWDC). Federighi said Apple Intelligence is a “big lift,” and Apple feels it’s crucial to get it right. “You know, you could put something out there and have it be sort of a mess, or, you know, Apple’s point of view is more like, let’s try to get each piece right and release it when it’s ready,” he said.
He added, “This isn’t a one-and-done kind of situation. This is a multi-year, even decades-long arc of this technology playing out, and so we’re going to do it responsibly.”
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