I'm sorry to break this to you, but your mirrorless camera probably already has AI built into it

Since AI has become commonplace in smartphone cameras and even the dedicated camera called Caira, photographers have been clutching our cameras that spit out un-generated images a little tighter. But here’s the thing: most mirrorless cameras already have AI inside.

I was reading an opinion earlier this week that predicted that AI would come to mainstream cameras, but that such a move would come with dramatic pushback by photographers. I agree to an extent…except that AI is actually already inside most mirrorless cameras.

See, there’s an important distinction in the AI era: AI and Generative AI are not on the same ethical playing field. AI simply means software that “learns” from a set of training data. Generative AI takes that ability to learn and “creates” something from that data: a photo, a video, a song, an essay.

Cameras already have AI built into them – and they have for years. The biggest culprit? Eye detection autofocus and subject detection autofocus are AI technologies. Canon’s in-camera upscaling and noise reduction is also AI; it’s just not generative AI.

But, using AI software to focus on the eye of a bird in flight isn’t the same thing as using AI to generate an image. A generated image doesn’t depict reality, whether or not it was generated on a computer or partially inside a camera.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that compact cameras are returning as smartphone cameras become increasingly reliant on computational photography and generative AI. I want to freeze memories, not generate them. And if my memories aren’t perfect, why should my photographs be? Give me a compact camera over a smartphone’s overly perfected images any day.

I have no qualms with an AI that can help me lock the focus in quickly on a camera that still freezes real memories. Such a system is built on real images, yes, but the tech doesn’t compete with or attempt to replace photographers – just makes the job a little easier.

But a camera that not only makes things up but does so as AI companies make billions of dollars on stolen images without paying the original creator? That I have a problem with, and I know I’m not alone.

The question that remains is this: will major brands eventually integrate generative AI into cameras? It's certainly possible. Canon and Panasonic recently invested in a generative AI startup that generates lifestyle product photos. A start-up has created Caira, a mirrorless camera that attaches to a smartphone and has Nano Banana built in.

But integrating generative AI into a camera from a major brand would alienate the very people who buy cameras: photographers.

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