iPhone AI's photo editing limitations are intentional: Apple executive

The first batch of Apple Intelligence features will be available to iPhone, iPad, and Mac users next week. After much waiting, at least some of Apple’s long-awaited features will finally be released. Before this launch, The Wall Street JournalJoanna Stern spoke with Apple’s Chief Software Officer Craig Federighi about Apple Intelligence, its limitations, and why some features have been delayed.

One of the key features is the cleaning tool. Apple says this feature can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo without accidentally altering the subject. In real-world scenarios, the tool is ideal for removing an object or person from a solid background, such as a bird against a blue sky. However, more complex backgrounds leave behind visible errors.

Apple’s Craig Federigh explains that this limitation is intentional. While many AI tools attempt to generate new parts of a photo, Apple does not. “People view photographic content as something they can rely on as an indicator of reality,” Federighi said. “It is important for us to help provide accurate and non-gimmicky information. »

Craig says Apple has had long discussions about the extent to which it should help users edit parts of an image. The company also took into account how many users also wanted something like this. “The demand from people to want to clean up what appear to be extraneous details in the photo that don’t fundamentally change the meaning of what happened has been very, very strong, so we have been willing to take that small step.” , he declared. revealed.

During the interview, he also talked about another feature coming later this year: Image Playground. This Apple Intelligence feature allows users to generate an image based on user input, such as a sketch, text, or image.

Instead of creating images that could look real, Apple decided to take a different approach with drawn images. This way, users can still express themselves through AI, but other people can understand the differences between a photo and the generated content.

Conclude

Although the entire interview is locked behind a subscriber paywall, part of it is available on The Wall Street JournalThe YouTube channel of. Below you can also learn more about Apple Intelligence features, including the upcoming iPhone cleaning tool.