Technology

I'm old enough that digital cameras only came out about the time I was legal to drink. Photos were a way to capture vacation moments, not food styling with a conspicuous bite missing. I rarely even take photos anymore, despite having been heavily into photography in college, to the extent that I developed my own Tri-X in the newsroom darkroom and going E-6 Velvia 50 when I wanted to do landscapes in colour. I bought film in bulk and had one of those machines that spooled film into canisters, which worked out in my favour, as Ivy Seright charged the same for processing a 36-shot roll even if I'd squeezed 40 into the canister.

All of which is to say: What the fuck problem is MS solving?

Microsoft is rolling out technology to transform OneDrive photos into AI-infused masterpieces. Or top up the bucket of slop, depending on your perspective.

The feature, called AI Restyle, allows users to apply a range of styles to photos in OneDrive. Where users might once have been happy with contrast tweaks or lighting adjustments, Microsoft has gone further by adding the ability to create a new version of a photo using either a preset or a prompt.

Reckon your family photos would look better in anime style? Microsoft's OneDrive can now make your dreams come true.

The ability to "Ghibli-fy" images with AI is not new. However, the functionality turning up in OneDrive - which means users can skip third-party services - is.

Microsoft is rolling the feature out to iOS and Android versions of the OneDrive application, and the web for users with a Microsoft 365 subscription. We asked the company whether processing is on-device or in Microsoft's cloud, but it has yet to respond.

If processing takes place in the cloud, users will need to consider where their data is going. Then again, if you're using OneDrive, that ship has already sailed.