Pro & Con: Are Apple's photo tools going too far with AI?
A photo shows what really happened. Apple's touted mantra torpedoes the AI photo editing tools in iOS 27. Has a line been crossed?
(Image: heise medien)
Photos that come from the phone are usually processed internally via Computational Photography so that they look best. Anyone who wants what comes directly from the image sensor needs tools with manual mode. However, with iOS 27, Apple is going one step further and bringing AI tools directly into the photo app. But is that a sensible decision? Mac & i editors Leo Becker and Sebastian Trepesch discuss.
PRO
Photography is “a personal appreciation of something that really, actually happened”. With this credo, Apple's camera boss repeatedly positioned himself against the Android competition, where pure image nihilism has long reigned through AI moons and prompt editing. iOS 27 is now heading in that direction too: AI tools prominently integrated into Apple's systems are throwing the photographic claim to truth out the window.
They generate previously non-existent image content on request to change the crop and perspective retrospectively. Admittedly, I too find it practical to have the image edges cut off when straightening generated by AI. What initially seems harmless quickly distorts the actual photographed moment: concert photos extended at the edges by AI were filled with a ready-made audience by Apple's models in the beta. In a child's photo extended at the bottom, my son suddenly wore shoes he never owned. The cleanup tool didn't even shy away from reinventing my mouth, which was covered by an object in a selfie. This has nothing to do with the harmless optimizations of computer-aided photography anymore.
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Nobody sells as many cameras as Apple (and Samsung). The smartphone giants' product decisions have an unbridled impact on photography, technically, aesthetically, and culturally. Undoubtedly, the manipulation of images is as old as photography itself. However, placing simple tools directly at the feet of several hundred million users threatens to turn AI-manipulated media into a sad self-evidence once and for all. (lbe)
The Pro & Contra comes from Mac & i issue 4/2026, which has been available since this week. The new issue can now be purchased in the heise shop – as a print magazine or as a PDF.
CONTRA
On page 128 of Mac & i issue 04/2026, a huge M5 chip flies across the table. Does the photo show the truth? No reader should assume so, and the source reference, if in doubt, proves that it was generated with the help of AI. Not everything that looks like a photo has to depict reality. In this case, the image clearly serves as an illustration. Especially in the age of AI generators, we can no longer believe (unfortunately!) what we see in photos – keyword Pope in a white down jacket. Not an entirely new problem: with the right source material, this motif could have been created deceptively realistically in Photoshop 15, 20 years ago – just not in one minute. Of course, Apple is promoting AI use with the new feature, but more as a laggard than a pioneer.
For example, Photoshop has offered “Generative Expand” for years, and Samsung's photo assistant offers similar features. I don't think it's important that Apple now offers such functions, but rather how the user uses them. When an acquaintance showed me a great picture of Hanover and explained what he had changed with AI, I felt deceived. Changes to the real world should at least be marked. But extending the background with a little grass – fine by me.
And if someone falsifies their family memories because they overlooked their feet when taking the shot, that's their personal problem. Photography is not losing its innocence only with iOS 27; photographic tricks, the darkroom, Photoshop, and other AI generators have already achieved that. Apple cannot shatter what is already lying in pieces on the floor. (tre)
Who is right? Join the discussion!
Last time on Pro & Contra: Does the Mac Pro deserve a comeback?
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(olb)
