Photos, not chatbots, might be AI's killer app

MY LATE GRANDFATHER had a reputation in my family for his good looks, earning him the nickname the "Okinawan James Dean." I have just a few grainy black-and-white photos of him when he was young, and I hoped to restore these images to their full glory.

- CATHERINE THORBECKE

The earlier, buzzy crop of AI image tools have largely been text-to-image models, where you input a prompt like "a tabby cat in outer space" and then receive a surreal synthetic shot. But a rash of recent tech updates have improved the ability of various AI applications to manipulate existing images without turning the subjects into distorted and strange versions of themselves.

The real consumer breakthrough for AI may not be chatbots, but tools like these that alter the images we hold closest. If you've ever had a photo that didn't turn out quite right, they promise to instantly fix that without the need for a reshoot. But they go far beyond just glamourising selfies: Family members who missed a reunion can be added, as could your favourite celebrity. Brands could also swap out the products a model is displaying.