Revealed: Samsung Uses AI to Enhance Moon Shots with Space Zoom Feature
Samsung's flagship smartphone models are equipped with the ‘Space Zoom' feature that allows users to capture impressive moon shots. However, a recent investigation by a Reddit user suggests that these images are actually the result of AI trickery and not the phone's hardware.[0]
To test the effect, a high-resolution image of the moon was downloaded and resized to 170 x 170 resolution. To finish off, a gaussian blur was applied to the image, effectively obliterating any details of its surface.[1] He relocated to the other side of the room, switched off the lights, and enlarged the image on a display, making it a blurry 170×170 pixels.[2] Eventually, he was able to take a photo of the moon using Samsung's Space Zoom.[2]
A neural network, trained on numerous images of the moon, is employed to add texture and detail to the final image that the camera sensor is unable to detect. According to the user, this is far from the outright fabrication that Huawei has been accused of in the past, where the handset would just apply an overlay of the moon on the photo, leading users to believe that was the actual camera capability.[3]
The Reddit user further stated that this is not the same kind of processing that is done when you're zooming into something else.[1] This is due to the fact that the AI model is specifically trained on hundreds, if not thousands of images of the moon, to incorporate exceptional detail in the image, such as craters, which would otherwise have been missing, creating nothing more than a blurred image.
Samsung's Space Zoom feature is a remarkable feature to have on a smartphone and it appears that the company has used AI to make moon photos more interesting than they really are. These images may not be completely false, but they are not completely truthful either.[2]
0. “Samsung’s Moon Shots Using The Company’s ‘Space Zoom’ Technology Are Fake As They Use An AI Model To Add Extra Details” Wccftech, 12 Mar. 2023, https://wccftech.com/space-space-zoom-moon-shots-are-fake
1. “It looks like Samsung is cheating on ‘space zoom' moon photos” AppleInsider, 11 Mar. 2023, https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/03/11/samsungs-smartphone-space-zoom-may-lean-heavily-on-ai-for-moon-shots
2. “Samsung Galaxy ‘space zoom' moon photos fake? Reddit user's post sparks row” DNA India, 12 Mar. 2023, https://www.dnaindia.com/viral/report-samsung-galaxy-space-zoom-moon-photos-fake-reddit-user-s-post-sparks-row-3029381
3. “Samsung Space Zoom ‘fake' moon shots aren't really a controversy” SamMobile – Samsung news, 12 Mar. 2023, https://www.sammobile.com/news/samsung-space-zoom-fake-moon-shots-arent-a-controversy/
