The Sublime and Scary Future of Cameras With A.I. Brains

Article Summary:

A new generation of cameras like Google’s new Clips device can understand what they see, creating intriguing and sometimes eerie possibilities.

AppIt Review:

What was striking about this article is not just the technology used, but how it’s poised to impact daily lives — almost give a higher meaning to the mundane. This article talks about technological advances in cameras — with Google launching Clips, an AI-driven camera, how we capture images and moments in our lives is set to take a dramatic shift. Basically, Clips works by learning who the most important people are in your life by measuring who you spend the most time with, and then watches for the subtleties that make a good picture (facial expressions, background, lighting, etc). The author’s experience with this product is what stood out however. The author described how Clips had taken snippets of “moments too spontaneous or seemingly slight…to have caught with (a) camera, but that will probably paint a more accurate and edifying picture of (his life) in 30 years”. This commentary was striking because of the notion that AI and business logic allow machines to know us more accurately than we know ourselves. Computers have the benefit of always observing without judgment, which is probably why AI will end up being a better judge of us that we are of ourselves in the long run. It’s fascinating to see where this trend will take us.

Read Full Article at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/technology/future-cameras-ai-brains.html