Bizarre result: Samsung AI adds teeth to a photo of a baby. VIDEO

Although AI has been talked about for many years, it is only now that AI-generated or AI-enhanced content has entered the ‘mainstream’. Various companies apply AI algorithms to enhance photos, both when capturing from the camera and to improve the results after capture. Samsung, which has recently faced criticism over “doctored” photos with Luna, is now entering another controversy. Its photo “remastering” AI adds teeth to a photo of a baby.

“AI ‘remastering’ on Samsung phones may have unwanted effects

Samsung phones have included the “remastering” feature for photos for a couple of generations now. This is included to improve older photos by applying AI photo processing algorithms. In general, the results are satisfactory. Images get more detail and improved colours, but there are times when the technology doesn’t seem to understand what it’s changing, making some bizarre decisions to say the least.

That’s what happened to a Twitter user who tried to “remaster” a footgraph of a baby, just 7 months old, who still had no teeth, with AI. However, the AI algorithm correctly recognised that there was a person in the photo and that the person had an open mouth. What threw the algorithm for a loop is that the baby’s mouth showed tongue, not teeth. When it detected such an area in the mouth, with no details separating the teeth independently, the algorithm did what it thought was necessary: it added details and whitened the area to make it look like teeth were there.

This is how gross Remastering is on the @SamsungMobile @Samsung #S23Ultra #SamsungS23Ultra. AI casually adding teeth to a 7 month old baby. NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS! pic.twitter.com/X9WUHWS2Hr

– Apricot Lennon 🐱🥙 (@earcity) March 22, 2023

The result is odd to say the least, and demonstrates why we shouldn’t trust artificial intelligence decisions (yet). Although, the AI algorithm has folosted the training it received and complied exactly, not all cases were considered when the processing rules were set. The AI cannot currently distinguish between an adult and a baby, or between tongue and teeth, to avoid certain changes in the mouth.

You can certainly avoid such scenarios by bypassing the AI functions, but they’re especially useful for eliminating unwanted reflections and shadows in frames, according to Samsung’s official description. Thus, it’s best to test the result for each individual frame and not apply the remastering algorithm randomly over all photos.