- Sony released an ad for the Xperia 1 VIII’s AI Camera Assistant tool
- But all images using this feature are worse than “before” photos
- It’s unclear how this could have happened without Sony realizing it
AI is a controversial tool, but even those who oppose it would probably admit that it has some utility. One such use case is enhancing photos, but Sony’s recent attempt to promote AI skills in this area has backfired.
You see, the Sony Xperia 1 VIII just launched with an “AI Camera Assistant” tool, which, on paper, looks promising. It can make suggestions on settings you might want to change, such as exposure, bokeh and color, based on where you point the viewfinder, in order to get the best version of a photo. Except his suggestions sound absolutely terrible.
In an article on The official Sony
The new AI Camera Assistant* with Xperia Intelligence brings stories to life. Using the subject, scene and weather, it suggests expressive options with color, exposure, bokeh and lens adjustments for breathtaking photos*. #Xperia1VIII pic.twitter.com/1dsBeCNvhEMay 14, 2026
An accident or an intentional gamble?
Even if the feature is really that bad, it’s weird that Sony would highlight its flaws like this, so there’s some debate online about what’s going on. Nothing is CEO Carl Pei even chimed in, suggesting “this must be engagement agriculture??” But if so, it’s quite a gamble given how terrible that makes the feature.
Other responses described the results as “horrible” and noted that “all the originals look better”, with one poster saying: “If it’s smart, I’d rather my phone was stupid.” » Another simply asks: “Is this satire?”
The response is almost universally negative, and it seems hard to believe that Sony didn’t realize that adjusted photos were worse. But it’s also hard to imagine the company intentionally posts bad images for engagement purposes.
Perhaps the before and after photos were accidentally mislabeled, but the post has been up for a while now, so you’d think it would have been deleted if that had been the case.
We’ll be interested in trying out the AI Camera Assistant feature when we get our hands on the Sony Xperia 1 VIII, but for now, based on Sony’s own images, it looks like something you might want to avoid.
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.
