Sony’s AI Camera Assistant is exactly as bad as it looks
TL;DR
The Verge tested the AI Camera Assistant on Sony’s Xperia 1 VIII for a week and came away unimpressed: it mostly produces heavy-handed filters rather than useful photo guidance. The assistant is built into the default camera mode and suggests alternate looks before capture, mainly tweaking exposure, white balance, contrast, saturation, and sometimes artificial bokeh.
Nauti's Take
This feels like AI added because the box needed an AI sticker. Sony could have built a real photography aid: detect the scene, explain why a different frame, lens, or lighting choice would help, and teach the user something.
Instead, the result sounds like overcooked presets with extra processing cost. For a brand with real camera credibility, that is the wrong direction: AI should make the craft more accessible, not make photos worse and the app slower.
Briefingshow
This is bigger than one weak phone feature because Sony already has strong camera hardware. If AI merely repackages old Instagram-style filters and hurts performance, it turns from a selling point into a trust problem: users learn nothing, images do not reliably improve, and the camera feels less dependable.
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