Samsung exec stirs up controversy on AI photos, says there's no real picture

Samsung says all pictures from modern cameras have some AI components

Speaking to TechRadar, Samsung EVP Patrick Chomet said that there is no such thing as a real picture. All pictures are recreated using sensors, and advanced algorithms are used. He pointed out the video made by YouTuber Marques Brownlee about the moon pictures captured by Samsung's high-end smartphones and asked what a real picture is. He said:

“There was a very nice video by Marques Brownlee last year on the moon picture. Everyone was like, ‘Is it fake? Is it not fake?’ There was a debate around what constitutes a real picture. And actually, there is no such thing as a real picture. As soon as you have sensors to capture something, you reproduce [what you’re seeing], and it doesn’t mean anything. There is no real picture. You can try to define a real picture by saying, ‘I took that picture,’ but if you used AI to optimize the zoom, the autofocus, and the scene – is it real? Or is it all filters? There is no real picture, full stop.”

All smartphone brands these days use multi-frame capture techniques to reduce noise, improve brightness, and capture a wider dynamic range. They also automatically recognize scenes to adjust colors, contrast, skin tones, textures, and white balance according to those scenes using advanced algorithms and AI. All the brands also tune certain parts of images, like making the sky bluer or the grass greener, to make them appear more attractive. So, the question is, after all that tuning, is that image a real picture or a real representation of what the moment actually looked like?

Chomet said that Samsung is offering two things that consumers want: a way to capture the moment and a way to create a new reality. The former is through its smartphone cameras and the latter using various AI tools that it has implemented into the Galaxy S24 series. He says AI needs to be regulated, and it wants to help governments in regulating AI. That is why it is adding watermarks to AI-generated or edited images to help users understand the difference between real and AI-generated images.