Google announces AI-powered photo-editing features for new Pixel phones

Google announced new AI-powered features today for the new Pixel 8 series phones, such as Magic Editor, which enables background filling and subject repositioning, and Best Take, which combines multiple shots to create the best group photo.

Magic Editor will let you tap or circle an object and then let it shift or resize the object. Magic Editor also uses generative AI to recreate the background when you shift the selected object. This feature also lets users make changes to the background using presets.

Magic Editor will suggest contextual changes to the image based on lighting and background. Plus, Users will be able to choose from multiple results of an edit. The company first announced this feature in May at Google I/O.

Google said the Magic Editor feature is in its “early stages,” so some end results might not match user expectations.

Best Take combines multiple group photos to create a version where anyone is not blinking or looking away. If you don’t want to use the auto-generated version, it also lets you choose expressions of different people from various shots and merge them into one. Essentially it swaps faces in the original photo with the selected expression.

Both Best Take and Magic Editor features will be available on the Pixel 8 series of phones starting October 12.

The new Pixel phones will have features like Magic Eraser to remove unwanted objects and Photo Unblur to fix blurry things in an image. Google said that the new Pixel 8 Pro will have an improved version of Magic Eraser, which will let users remove larger objects from the image.

The company said with Pixel 8 Pro, it is introducing a feature called Zoom Enhance, which uses generative AI to take corrective steps to improve photo quality and gaps between pixels when you crop an image. This feature will be available on the 8 Pro later.

Google announced the Pixel 8, the Pixel 8 Pro, and the Pixel Watch 2 today.