Google announces new AI features for the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, including Best Take, which lets users swap faces in a photo with expressions from additional shots
Google announced new AI-powered features today for the new Pixel 8 series phones, such as Magic Editor, which enables background filling …
The feature also sits alongside Magic Editor and the Pixel 8 Pro's subsequent cloud-based Video Boost update, showing Google extending AI processing from still-image cleanup into more computationally intensive media enhancement.
First-order effects
Pixel 8 and 8 Pro users gain a way to combine expressions from multiple shots, while Magic Editor adds background-filling tools to the phones' photo workflow.
Google differentiates the new Pixel generation through software-mediated camera results, not only conventional capture controls or hardware specifications.
Second-order effects
Rival phone makers face pressure to match AI-assisted group-photo and editing workflows, shifting camera comparisons toward the finished image rather than the single frame captured.
As later testing highlighted concerns over AI's ability to replace faces and normalize expressions, users and photo platforms may scrutinize when an edited image still represents the moment photographed.
Third-order effects
If these tools become standard, smartphone photography will increasingly be defined by multi-shot synthesis and post-capture generation rather than a camera's ability to record one decisive frame.
The pattern points toward a durable trade-off: AI features can make everyday photos more usable, but their normalization may require clearer user expectations around authenticity and edits.
The trend: Pixel 8 is an early example of AI becoming a core camera interface, where phones optimize and reconstruct memories as much as they capture them.
Yes there is some hand-wavy metadata stuff but unless it is cryptographically hard-coded it's just there to let Google dodge questions about the ethics of this approach to photography
Meet #Pixel8 & 8 Pro—engineered by Google with AI controlled by you. 📷Video Boost, Night Sight Video & Pro Controls on 8 Pro* 🔇Audio Magic Eraser* 🪄Edit pics w/ Best Take & Magic Editor* ✅Protects your info* & saves you time* *See video & learn more: https://store.google.com/... …
Announced today, new AI-powered features in Google Photos are coming first to Pixel 8 and 8 Pro. From getting the perfect group pic to using generative AI to reimagine your photos, Google Photos is making complex video and photo edits simple and intuitive https://blog.google/... …
We're all guilty of taking a lot of photos just to get the right one. Best Take on #Pixel8 can help by using a series of photos to form one blended image¹ so you can always capture you and your friends' *best.* #MadeByGoogle [image]
Check out the 4 new Google Photos features coming first to Pixel 8 and 8 Pro ↓ Whether it's noise from wind, traffic, or barking dogs, Audio Magic Eraser in Google Photos reduces distracting sounds in your video in just a few taps! 🪄 [video]
The generative AI wallpaper feature is coming first to the Pixel 8. Since it works entirely server-side, there's no reason it can't come to other Pixels in a future update, like the upcoming December 2023 Pixel Feature Drop. (It's being tested on the Pixel 6 & Pixel 7, in fact.)
The Pixel 8's generative AI wallpaper feature is SO COOL! You can create brand new wallpapers that nobody else has ever seen just by choosing a few topics and colors from some preset options. While you can't go wild with custom prompts, you still have a ton of choice! [video]