AI-generated imagery is nothing new, but if you’ve ever wanted to be able to add yourself into whatever fantastical image prompt you can dream up then Xiaomi may have the feature for you. It’s rather fascinating to see AI-imagery take on that personal touch, but at the same time it’s kind of terrifying to think about the possibilities.
AI Portrait was unveiled at MWC 2024 and will be launching on the Xiaomi 14 series. The express purpose of the feature is to use your own photos to create an AI model that’s designed to be a photo-realistic version of you. Or someone you know. Provided you have at least 20 photos of the subject, you can create an AI model for the feature to utilize.
With that model in hand, you can give AI Portrait a prompt, such as “snowy mountain” or “at the beach”. The Xiaomi 14’s generative AI will then create a series of images for you to choose from, with your AI model front and center.
There’s also a generic AI image generator on the phone, likened to platforms such as Dall-E. In these you pick a generic male or female model that will feature in your generated images.
As interesting as this kind of feature can be, especially if you want to create images featuring yourself, things could get very creepy very quickly. There’s already been a lot of talk about the ethics of using AI to create fake images of celebrities and public figures, but throwing random people into the mix takes those concerns to a whole new level. Unfortunately there are people out there that will use the latest technologies for evil, and that spoils it for the rest of us.
As interesting as this kind of feature can be, especially if you want to create images featuring yourself, things could get very creepy very quickly.
I was told that there will be restrictions on the kind of content you can create, similar to other image-generating tools. We don’t know what kind of AI platform Xiaomi will be using to create new images, but it should mean you won’t be able to create any offensive imagery using AI Portrait.
It’s not the only AI feature Xiaomi has included on the Xiaomi 14 and 14 Ultra phones either. The phones also feature AI image expansion, which uses generative AI to add extra images to the borders of your photos, alongside more mundane features like subtitling, translation and photo search.
We still don’t know when the Xiaomi 14 or Xiaomi 14 Ultra will launch, but they will cost a respective €999 and €1,499 in Europe and won’t be going on sale in the U.S. Which is a shame, and as we said in our Xiaomi 14 review the small and powerful phone is the perfect device for those of you that feel let down by what Samsung, Apple and Google have to offer.
