I stopped using Google Photos' AI edits — and my photos look better for it

I have a photo library spanning well over 200,000 photos. That includes trips, personal moments, birthdays, and much more.

Be it a crowded street, bad lighting, or someone walking into the frame at the wrong moment, it has all the imperfections that make a real moment, well, real.

And while the tools are there to fix these imperfections, I choose not to. Every time I scroll through the images, I remember the day it was because that's what photos are supposed to be — a record of the day.

Google Photos is, in my opinion, one of the best tools ever released for photo management and even light edits.

Over the past few years, the app has cranked up its editing capabilities into a playground for generative AI. It makes sense. The average user struggles with image editing, and generative AI can help.

But increasingly, the app has been piling on tools that don't just clean up images but actively rewrite them.

Take, for example, Magic Eraser, which can entirely remove people from scenes, or Reimagine, which can swap out backgrounds based on a text-based prompt.

Then there's Best Take, which stitches together expressions from multiple shots to produce a frame in which nobody blinks.

These features are technically impressive, but they're also changing what a photograph is supposed to represent.

Over time, I've stopped using them, and my relationship with my own photography has become better. Here's why.

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Posts By  Rahul Naskar

When photo editing starts rewriting the moment

Magic Eraser fixed my photos, but changed what they were

Magic Eraser was one of the earliest generative AI tools introduced within the Google Photos experience, and it quickly became a habit for me.

The premise is simple. Circle an object, a person, or a distraction, and the AI fills the gap with what it thinks should be there instead. For what it's worth, it usually works remarkably well. Be it a bin in the background or an unwanted person.

However, I have concerns. For one, the features capabilities haven't kept up with the best in the business.

Be it stray text or fine details and blemishes, as Google marches on with adding fresh new features to the Google Photos experience, Magic Eraser feels like it's been left behind and incapable of handling these smaller, more detailed fixes.

But that's just one part of my gripes with it.

The bigger issue isn't that Magic Eraser often gets the micro details wrong. It's more about what we're doing to a photograph with it.

Like everyone else, my base instinct is to sanitize the image of distractions and unwanted objects. Things like a photo bomber or an unwanted trash can, but removing those objects doesn't improve the photo.

For one, they stop reflecting what happened and start reflecting what you wish the scene was. Additionally, they are becoming a crutch, and I've stopped making the effort to improve my own photography skills.

Tools like Reimagine take it a step further. The feature lets you select an area of the image and replace it entirely based on a text prompt. You can do things like swapping the sky or changing significant portions of the background.

But in my opinion, this stretches way beyond editing an image. By this point, you are really just taking a real image as a starting ground and then making it look like what you think is the best outcome.

It's far from authentic, and the gap between appearance and reality starts breaking down trust in the concept of photography itself.

There's significant research suggesting that AI-edited images can lead people to create false memories of the events as they happened.

While you might take a photo to remember, when you look back at the altered image years down the line, you'll associate the event with that idealized version rather than a photo showing how it actually appeared.

Editing should refine, not reinvent

AI should be a safety net, not the photographer

Stepping back from generative edits doesn't mean giving up on image editing altogether. Of course not.

The basic tools absolutely earn their place within the Google Photos experience. Tools that let you adjust exposure, pull back highlights, and correct white balance.

These are the tools that can change how a photo looks without changing what it shows. These tools can help you elevate the image without changing what the photo actually is.

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More than changing my editing style, though, stepping back from generative edits has made me more considerate about how I shoot photos in the first place.

Still, the promise of AI fixing our mistakes or skill gaps makes us lazier. Why wait for a person to walk out of the frame if you can just remove them? Or bother recomposing for a better image?

And yes, AI can offer a safety net, but it should be just that: a safety net. When you actively compose for a better image, it doesn't take too long to realize that the quality is consistently better. And more rewarding too.

I don't want AI to rewrite my memories

Google Photos remains an excellent tool. There's no denying that. It is incredible for storage, searching, surfacing memories, and organizing years of photos without much effort.

But where I draw the line is in the tools that help you find and appreciate what you captured, and the tools that completely alter what that image capture means.

A photo doesn't necessarily need to be perfect to be worth keeping.

While an AI-corrected version might look like professional photography, it is not what you captured or what you experienced. And that's the difference. One of those is a memory, while the other is content, and my personal photos are certainly not the latter.

Switching away from generative edits hasn't just helped me hold on to real memories, but has also nudged me towards being a better photographer.

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