Showerthought: My phone's camera used to just take pictures

I mean, three years ago, my phone camera was basically a point and shoot. Last month, I was in Chicago and it kept asking if I wanted to remove random people from my vacation photos. Then last week, I was trying to take a picture of a document, and it just scanned it into a PDF for me without me even asking. It feels like the camera app isn't about photos anymore, it's a bunch of little AI tools that happen to use the lens. Has anyone else noticed their basic phone apps turning into something else entirely?

3 comments

3 Comments

burns.jenny1d ago

It's weird how the camera is now the main way the phone watches you to learn stuff. All that scanning feels like free training for them.

river_allen1d agoMost Upvoted

Chicago's photo AI, what else does it do?

elliot_patel1d ago

Honestly, the city's whole AI plan feels pretty unclear right now. They keep adding new features without explaining what data they're using. It just makes me nervous about where this is all going.