Poll: Where do you draw the line between photo and fiction?

The Google Pixel 9 phones launched earlier this month, and they all have new AI tricks for photos. These features have once again reignited the debate over the line between authentic photography and outright fakery.

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What we know so far and what features we want to see

These features got us wondering about where our readers draw the line between legitimate photos and fiction.

Features like Google’s Reimagine option in Magic Editor and Samsung’s Sketch to Image (seen below) are incredibly polarizing examples of AI generation in smartphone photography. Both tools allow you to add AI-generated objects to your existing photo via a doodle or prompt. For example, you can add a sportscar to a picture of your driveway or a hat to a photo of your friend. We’ve even seen some brands offering portrait modes that let you swap out the background for a completely AI-generated one.

Some readers might be happy to use AI for minor tweaks but nothing more. This could be as simple as erasing small objects in a scene or centering your subject in a photo after the fact.

Some of you might draw the line at composite images, let alone AI. Google’s Best Take is one recent example of a feature that combines elements from multiple pictures. It lets you swap out the faces of people in your group shot (e.g. in case someone had their eyes closed), but doesn’t merely make up new faces. Instead, the mode takes several shots in quick succession and lets you swap in faces from these previous frames. Google also uses a composite approach for its new Add Me feature, allowing you to add yourself to an image if you were the initial photographer.

A few of you might be photography purists who only want an unprocessed/lightly processed image and draw the line at many modern processing techniques. That means no multi-frame image capture to reduce noise and blur and no image segmentation for more granular processing. It also means no heavy-handed tweaks in general, like over-sharpening or extreme saturation.

So go ahead and vote in our poll below. If you draw the line somewhere else, let us know in the comments below!

Me? I absolutely draw the line at AI generation in my photos. I love computational photography and modes involving composite images/multi-frame capture, but I definitely don’t want AI-generated stuff in my snaps.