I tried Google Photos' new AI Enhance tool: How it crops, relights, and fixes your shots - sometimes

Editor's take

Google Photos' new AI Enhance feature, now available to Android users, leverages generative AI to automatically adjust and refine images.

This update significantly impacts the everyday user experience of photo editing, democratizing sophisticated image manipulation previously requiring dedicated software or expertise. The tool's integration into a widely used platform like Google Photos means millions will have access to automatic relighting, cropping, and artifact correction, potentially raising the baseline quality of shared personal imagery across social media and cloud storage.

Future observations should focus on the consistency and quality of the AI's output across diverse photographic conditions and user expectations. Examining instances where the tool "falls short," as noted in the report, will be crucial for understanding its limitations and Google's iterative development strategy for generative image editing within its ecosystem.