Tech

Google Pixel’s face-altering photo tool sparks AI manipulation debate – BBC.com

Published

1 year ago

October 21, 2023

Harry Miller

Getty Images

By Darren Waters

BBC News

The camera never lies. Except, of course, it does – and seemingly more often with each passing day.

In the age of the smartphone, digital edits on the fly to improve photos have become commonplace, from boosting colours to tweaking light levels.

Now, a new breed of smartphone tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) are adding to the debate about what it means to photograph reality.

Google’s latest smartphones released last week, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, go a step further than devices from other companies. They are using AI to help alter people’s expressions in photographs.

It’s an experience we’ve all had: one person in a group shot looks away from the camera or fails to smile. Google’s phones can now look through your photos to mix and match from past expressions, using machine learning to put a smile from a different photo of them into the picture. Google calls it Best Take.

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 The devices also let users erase, move and resize unwanted elements in a photo – from people to buildings – “filling in” the space left behind with what’s called Magic Editor. This uses what’s known as deep learning, effectively an artificial intelligence algorithm working out what textures should fill the gap by analysing the surrounding pixels it can see, using knowledge it has gleaned from millions of other photos.

It doesn’t have to be pictures taken on the device. Using the Pixel 8 Pro you can apply the so-called Magic Editor or Best Take to any pictures in your Google Photos library.

‘Icky and creepy’

For some observers this raises fresh questions about how we take photographs.

Google’s new AI technology has been described variously by tech commentators and reviewers as potentially “icky” (The Verge), “creepy” (Tech Radar) and having the potential to “pose serious threats to people’s (already fragile) trust of online content” (Cnet).

Andrew Pearsall, a professional photographer, and senior lecturer in Journalism at the University of South Wales, agreed that AI manipulation held dangers.

“One simple manipulation, even for aesthetic reasons, can lead us down a dark path,” he said.

He said the risks were greater for those who used AI in professional contexts but there were implications to for everyone to consider.

“You’ve got to be very careful about ‘When do you step over the line?’.

“It’s quite worrying now you can take a picture and remove something instantly on your phone. I think we are moving into this realm of a kind of fake world.”

Speaking to the BBC, Google’s Isaac Reynolds, who leads the team developing the camera systems on the firm’s smartphones, said the company takes the ethical consideration of its consumer technology seriously.

He was quick to point out that features like Best Take were not “faking” anything.

Camera quality and software are key to the company competing with Samsung, Apple and others – and these AI features are seen as a unique selling point.

And all of the reviewers who raised concerns about the tech praised the quality of the camera system’s photos.

“You can finally get that shot where everyone’s how you want them to look- and that’s something you have not been able to do on any smartphone camera, or on any camera, period,” Reynolds said.

“If there was a version [of the photo you’ve taken] where that person was smiling, it will show it to you. But if there was no version where they smiled, yeah, you won’t see that,” he explained.

For Mr Reynolds, the final image becomes a “representation of a moment”. In other words, that specific moment may not have happened but it’s the picture you wanted to happen created from multiple real moments.

‘People don’t want reality’

Professor Rafal Mantiuk, an expert in graphics and displays at the University of Cambridge, said it was important to remember that the use of AI in smartphones was not to make the photographs look like real life.

“People don’t want to capture reality,” he said. “They want to capture beautiful images. The whole image processing pipeline in smartphones is meant to produce good-looking images – not real ones.”

The physical limitations of smartphones mean they rely on machine learning to “fill in” information that doesn’t exist in the photo.

This helps improve zoom, improve low light photographs, and – in the case of Google’s Magic Editor feature – add elements to photographs that were either never there or swapping in elements from other photos, such as replacing a frown with a smile.

Manipulation of photographs is not new – it’s as old as the art form itself. But never has it been easier to augment the real thanks to artificial intelligence.

Earlier this year Samsung came in for criticism for the way it used deep learning algorithms to improve the quality of photos taken of the Moon with its smartphones. Tests found it didn’t matter how poor an image you took to begin with, it always gave you a useable image.

In other words – your Moon photo was not necessarily a photo of the Moon you were looking at.

The company acknowledged the criticism, saying it was working to “reduce any potential confusion that may occur between the act of taking a picture of the real Moon and an image of the Moon”.

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On Google’s new tech, Reynolds says the company adds metadata to its photos – the digital footprint of an image – using an industry standard to flag when AI is used.

“It is a question that we talk about internally. And we’ve talked at length. Because we’ve been working on these things for years. It’s a conversation, and we listen to what our users are saying,” he says.

Google is clearly confident users will agree – the AI features of its new phones are at the heart of its advertising campaign.

So, is there a line Google would not cross when it comes to image manipulation?

Mr Reynolds said the debate about the use of artificial intelligence was too nuanced to simply point to a line in the sand and say it was too far.

“As you get deeper into building features, you start to realise that a line is sort of an oversimplification of what ends up being a very tricky feature-by-feature decision,” he says.

Even as these new technologies raise ethical considerations about what is and what isn’t reality, Professor Mantiuk said we must also consider the limitations of our own eyes.

He said: “The fact that we see sharp colourful images is because our brain can reconstruct information and infer even missing information.

“So, you may complain cameras do ‘fake stuff’, but the human brain actually does the same thing in a different way.”

Ottawa orders TikTok’s Canadian arm to be dissolved

Published

6 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.

“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.

The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.

However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”

Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.

“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.

“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”

The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.

At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.

A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”

Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.

Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.

Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.

Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.

While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.

Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.

The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.

— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

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Health

Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

Published

3 weeks ago

October 24, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Tech

Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

Published

3 weeks ago

October 24, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

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