{"id":551102,"date":"2026-06-24T02:50:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T02:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/551102\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T02:50:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T02:50:21","slug":"sonys-ai-camera-assistant-is-exactly-as-bad-as-it-looks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/551102\/","title":{"rendered":"Sony\u2019s AI Camera Assistant is exactly as bad as it looks"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Sony announced the Xperia 1 VIII last month, it promoted the phone by sharing some of the worst photos taken on a Sony camera in years<\/a>. These weren\u2019t just any photos, though: they were taken with Sony\u2019s new AI Camera Assistant. After a week with the Xperia 1 VIII, I\u2019m here to tell you that the AI assistant is exactly as bad as Sony made it look.<\/p>\n

After Sony first showed me the AI Camera Assistant during a press briefing for the Xperia 1 VIII, I said<\/a> it looked \u201clike an improved version of Google\u2019s Camera Coach.\u201d It\u2019s pretty clear I got that wrong. Camera Coach, found on the latest Pixel phones, is a dedicated camera mode that talks you through framing a shot, asking what you want to focus on and giving specific tips on framing, positioning, which camera lens to use, and whether to use Portrait mode or not. I found it underwhelming when I reviewed the Pixel 10A<\/a>, but it does clearly serve as a basic photography coach.<\/p>\n

Sony\u2019s AI Camera Assistant is different. It\u2019s embedded directly into the camera app\u2019s default mode, and pops up automatically while you\u2019re trying to take a photo \u2014 though Sony does allow you to turn it off entirely. While you\u2019re trying to take a photo a small box pops up in the viewfinder showing what the photo would look like with alternate settings suggested by Sony\u2019s AI. A quick tap enables those settings, or you can swipe down to flick through another three alternate options.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

AI Camera Assistant suggestions pop up inside the viewfinder, showing you realtime image adjustments.<\/p>\n

The suggestions pop up before you actually take the shot \u2014 this isn\u2019t for editing photos you\u2019ve already taken. Unlike Google\u2019s Camera Coach, the Assistant doesn\u2019t offer any advice on framing or focus, it just applies a filter and leaves the rest to you. It doesn\u2019t even tell you what effects it\u2019s applying, so you won\u2019t learn anything about why the image looks that way or how to achieve the effect yourself.<\/p>\n

The suggestions don\u2019t appear consistently. They\u2019re not supported at all on the selfie camera, though I\u2019ve no idea why. Pointing the camera directly at a bright light or a backlit window usually doesn\u2019t bring up any AI suggestions, nor does looking at a blank wall. It doesn\u2019t tend to offer options for macro shots, but occasionally it does. If I try to take a photo of the palm of my hand the AI Assistant has plenty of ideas; if I turn my hand sideways or backwards, those options disappear. If there\u2019s a logic being followed here, I couldn\u2019t tell you what it is.<\/p>\n

1\/5<\/strong>Here\u2019s a 2.9x telephoto shot straight out of the phone\u2019s camera.<\/p>\n

The overwhelming majority of the changes the AI Assistant suggests are adjustments to exposure, white balance, contrast, and other basic image settings \u2014 and usually aggressive adjustments, at that. Sometimes it will suggest darkening a photo until it\u2019s murky and moody, other times it will crank up the highlights until they\u2019re blown beyond recognition. It loves to suggest a sepia effect, or move the white balance towards yellow to create a warmer final photo. There\u2019s usually at least one option with the saturation pushed up to make everything pop.<\/p>\n

Beyond color and exposure adjustments, the AI Assistant will sometimes enable an artificial bokeh effect too, blurring the background as in portrait mode. In its smarter moments, it might brighten the subject of an image, while darkening the background, to help them stand out. Sony claims<\/a> it can suggest swapping between the phone\u2019s three rear lenses or even help you find \u201cthe most photogenic angle,\u201d though after a week of testing I\u2019ve yet to see this happen once.<\/p>\n

1\/5<\/strong>This is probably the best set of AI options the phone ever gave me.<\/p>\n

You know where else we\u2019ve seen effects like this? Instagram. It\u2019s had photo filters for 16 years, only its filters have gotten subtler than these. What\u2019s especially strange is that, like most phones, the Xperia has filters too \u2014 a range of five, including a film simulation and a more vivid mode. The key difference is that rather than suggesting preset visuals, the AI Camera Assistant is ostensibly reacting to the scene, subject, and lighting to dynamically suggest the best alterations for that specific moment \u2014 that\u2019s the AI of it all. In theory that\u2019s not the worst idea, in practice the actual results render it unusable.<\/p>\n

The Assistant has only generated a handful of photos I\u2019d ordinarily deem worth keeping, fewer than that worth sharing on social media, and just one or two that have a credible claim to being better than the original. I\u2019ve found it tends to be more useful the worse the lighting is, simply because the default camera settings are more likely to struggle. But even here, you\u2019ll be lucky to have one or two photos worth taking.<\/p>\n

1\/5<\/strong>The lighting here was dim, so the AI suggestions mostly attempted to bring out more detail in the plant.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the camera\u2019s fault. While I wouldn\u2019t say that the Xperia 1 VIII has the best camera in a smartphone right now, it certainly has a good one. With large sensors across all three rear lenses it has hardware that outclasses Apple and Google\u2019s, and a distinctive processing style, with just slightly amped up contrast, of which I\u2019m mostly a fan. This is Sony\u2019s best Xperia camera yet<\/a>, and competitive with other phones at its elevated price point \u2014 the equivalent of $1,850, though the phone isn\u2019t actually launching in the US. It\u2019s that quality elsewhere that makes the AI assistant all the more bemusing.<\/p>\n

Sony\u2019s decision to make its suggestions before you take the photo, rather than after, has seemingly had some unwelcome knock-on effects to performance. Despite using the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5<\/a>, the Xperia 1 VIII runs unevenly at the best of times, and has a propensity to overheat. Running the AI Camera Assistant seems to add to the strain. The camera app often opens slowly, and can freeze or hang for several seconds at a time when switching lenses, accessing the AI suggestions, or taking a photo. The whole camera crashed once while I was writing this article. Turning the camera assistant off seems to have alleviated those issues.<\/p>\n

1\/5<\/strong>Portraits make it clearer that the AI Camera Assistant can apply different processing to different parts of an image. Photo: Dominic Preston \/ The Verge<\/p>\n

Perhaps we should be thankful. Sony\u2019s attempt at injecting AI into its camera doesn\u2019t involve editing objects out of photos, expanding images to include details that weren\u2019t there, or reframing real shots entirely \u2014 all included in Apple\u2019s new iOS 27 update<\/a>. Unlike those AI options, and countless others from Google and Samsung, Sony\u2019s AI Camera Assistant doesn\u2019t raise any uncomfortable questions about what a photo is. It just makes me wonder if anyone in Sony\u2019s Xperia team knows what makes a photo good.<\/p>\n

Photography by Dominic Preston \/ The Verge<\/p>\n

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