Google Photos will receive an AI update. On Wednesday, the tech giant announced that a handful of enhanced editing features previously limited to Pixel devices and paid subscribers, including its AI-powered Magic Editor, will now come to all Google Photos users for free. This expansion also includes Google’s Magic Eraser, which removes unwanted elements from photos; Photo Unblur, which uses machine learning to sharpen blurry photos; Portrait light, which lets you change the light source in photos after the fact, and more.
Editing tools have historically been a selling point for Google’s high-end devices, the Pixel phones, as well as a draw for Google’s cloud storage subscription product, Google One. But with the growing number of AI-powered editing tools flooding the market, Google has decided to make its suite of AI photo editing features available to more people for free.
Image credits: Google
However, there are some caveats to this expansion.
For starters, the tools won’t start rolling out until May 15 and will take weeks to reach all Google Photos users.
Additionally, there are some hardware device requirements in order to use them. On ChromeOS, for example, the device must be a Chromebook Plus running ChromeOS version 118+ or have at least 3 GB of RAM. On mobile devices, the device must be running Android 8.0 or higher or iOS 15 or higher.
The company notes that Pixel tablets will now be supported as well.
Magic Editor is the most notable feature of the bunch. Introduced last year with the launch of the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, this editing tool uses generative AI to make more complicated photo edits, such as filling in gaps in a photo, repositioning the subject, and other edits to the foreground or background of a photo. a picture. . With Magic Editor, you can change a gray sky to blue, remove people from the background of a photo, re-center the subject of the photo while filling in gaps, remove other clutter, and more.
Previously, these types of edits required Magic Eraser and other professional editing tools, such as Photoshop, to achieve the same effect. And those edits would be more manual, not automated by AI.
Image credits: Google
With the expansion, Magic Editor will come to all Pixel devices, while iOS and Android users (whose phones qualify) will be able to save 10 Magic Editor per month. To go further, they will still need to purchase a Premium Google One plan, meaning 2TB of storage or more.
The other tools will be available to all Google Photos users, no Google One subscription required. The full set of features that will be available includes Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Sky Suggestions, Color Pop, HDR effect for photos and videos, Portrait Blur, Portrait Light (in addition to the add light/light balance functions in the tool), Cinematic Photos. , Styles in the Collage Editor and Video Effects.
Other features, like AI-powered Best Take, which combines similar photos to create a single best shot that makes everyone smile, will continue to be available only for the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro.
