OnePlus dips its toes into the AI game with AI Eraser tool for photos

2023 was the year of AI, buzzword-wise, and 2024 seems like it's more of the same. OnePlus finally noticed, and so it's starting to dip its toes into the AI game, starting with a new feature it announced today: AI Eraser.

This erases unwanted bits from your photos, as many other tools by other companies already do. OnePlus has sent out a comparison so we can see for ourselves what it does, and it's pretty obvious, isn't it? No more random arms.

The company says this will roll out this month to the OnePlus 12, OnePlus 12R, OnePlus Open, OnePlus 11, and OnePlus Nord CE4, in all regions where these are officially available for purchase. That said, devices in Europe will only get AI Eraser "later in Q2 2024", so before the end of June.

It's unclear if it will arrive via an OxygenOS update or an update to the OnePlus Photo Gallery app, which is where you'll use it. Also unclear at this point is whether the AI processing takes place on-device or if it requires an internet connection.

OnePlus says AI Eraser is "the result of a substantial R&D investment" that has been "undertaken with a commitment to ensuring the accuracy and reliability of AI-generated content". The proprietary model behind the new feature "has been trained on a vast dataset that allows it to comprehend complex scenes", which means it can "intelligently substitute unwanted objects with contextually appropriate elements that naturally elevate the photo's appeal, empowering users with the ability to make high-quality photo edits anywhere and at any time".

OnePlus President and COO Kinder Liu said:

Empowering users with advanced, practical technology is what we live for at OnePlus. We believe that the potential for generative AI on mobile devices is enormous, with the power to completely transform productivity and creativity. As OnePlus' first feature based on generative AI technology, AI Eraser represents the first step in our vision to liberate user creativity through AI and revolutionize the future of photo editing, empowering users to create remarkable photos with just a few touches. This year, we plan to introduce more AI features, and we look forward to their upcoming availability.

So it looks like OnePlus intends to fully dive into AI features later this year, when it will launch more of them - though it hasn't detailed what they will be, so we'll have to wait and see.