Sony’s AI Camera Assistant is exactly as bad as it looks

Sony’s new AI Camera Assistant for the Xperia 1 VIII produces photo suggestions so poor that the company’s own promotional images inadvertently previewed the feature’s weakness, according to a week-long review by The Verge [1]. The tool is embedded directly into the camera app’s default mode and surfaces alternate image settings before a shot is taken [1]. Unlike Google’s Camera Coach, which offers framing and focus guidance, Sony’s Assistant applies an unnamed filter and leaves composition to the user [1]. “It doesn’t even tell you what effects it’s applying, so you won’t learn anything about why the image looks that way or how to achieve the effect yourself,” the review notes [1]. Suggestions appear inconsistently and are not supported on the selfie camera [1]. The feature often pushes aggressive exposure, white-balance, and contrast shifts, sometimes darkening an image into murkiness or blowing out highlights [1]. A sepia effect and heavy saturation are common outputs [1]. The review found the Assistant generated only a handful of photos worth keeping and fewer still suitable for social media [1]. Instagram has offered photo filters for 16 years, and its current presets are subtler than the Xperia’s AI-driven alterations [1]. The phone itself carries five built-in filters, including a film simulation and a vivid mode, but the AI Assistant is meant to react dynamically to the scene rather than apply a static look [1]. In practice, the results are “unusable,” the reviewer concluded [1]. Sony’s hardware is not the limiting factor. The Xperia 1 VIII uses large sensors across all three rear lenses, outclassing components from Apple and Google, and produces images with a distinctive, slightly amped-up contrast that the reviewer mostly favored [1]. The device retails for the equivalent of $1,850, though it is not launching in the United States [1]. Performance suffers when the Assistant is active. The camera app can open slowly, freeze for several seconds during lens switches, or crash entirely [1]. Disabling the Assistant appeared to resolve those issues [1]. Sony’s approach avoids the generative-AI editing found in Apple’s iOS 27 update, which can remove objects or expand frames, but the Assistant still raises questions about whether the Xperia team understands what makes a photograph compelling [1].