Google's Pixel 10 Pro launched today with a camera feature that's going to piss off photographers everywhere. The new Pro Res Zoom uses generative AI to enhance photos beyond 30x zoom - but here's the controversial part: it's not just sharpening what was actually captured. It's literally creating new detail that wasn't in the original image.
This isn't just better image processing. Google's AI is inventing pixels, textures, and details based on what it thinks should be there. PetaPixel's review calls it "sure to stir up some controversy," which is photographer-speak for "this is complete bullshit."
The Photography Purists Are Furious
Professional photographers are already losing their minds over this. The camera community has spent decades debating what constitutes "real" photography versus digital manipulation. Google just threw gasoline on that fire by building AI hallucination directly into the camera app.
When your phone starts inventing details that weren't actually there, are you still taking photographs or just creating AI-generated art? For wedding photographers, journalists, and anyone who needs accurate documentation, this crosses a bright line.
The Pixel 10 Pro reviews are calling it "naturally integrated AI," but there's nothing natural about software making up parts of your photo because the real image was blurry.
How Google's AI Zoom Actually Works
Traditional digital zoom just crops and enlarges existing pixels, which is why zoomed photos look like garbage. Google's Pro Res Zoom analyzes the image and uses machine learning to generate new pixels that it predicts should exist based on similar images in its training data.
So if you're shooting a distant building and the AI recognizes it as architectural, it might add window details, brick textures, or architectural elements that it thinks should be there - even if they weren't visible in the original shot.
The results can be impressive. TechCrunch's review notes you can "make out faraway objects in an image" that would be impossible with traditional zoom. But those "faraway objects" might be partially invented by Google's AI.
Why This Is Different From Normal Photo Processing
Every digital camera does some processing - adjusting contrast, saturation, noise reduction. But that processing works with the actual light data captured by the sensor. Google's Pro Res Zoom goes beyond that by creating new image data that never existed.
It's similar to how AI upscaling works for old movies, where software adds detail to improve resolution. The difference is that movies explicitly tell you they've been AI-enhanced. Google's camera app just saves the processed image without any indication that parts of it were generated by AI.
ZDNet's hands-on describes photos with "generative AI to correct noise and enhance details," making it sound like a minor improvement rather than fundamentally changing what photography means.
The Problem With AI-Generated "Truth"
Here's where this gets scary: Google's AI makes educated guesses about what should be in your photo, but educated guesses aren't facts. If you're photographing an accident scene for insurance, or documenting property damage, or capturing evidence of any kind, do you want AI filling in details that might not actually exist?
Legal and journalism communities are already grappling with deepfakes and AI-generated content. Now Google is baking that capability directly into the camera that millions of people use to document their lives.
Other Pixel 10 Pro Features Getting Overshadowed
The Pro Res Zoom controversy is overshadowing other Pixel 10 Pro improvements. The phone gets upgraded Gemini AI integration, better low-light performance, and an improved version of the "Add Me" feature that can now include pets.
Google also added more natural call screening, smarter notification summaries, and better battery optimization. But those features feel incremental compared to the fundamental shift in how the camera works.
The 100x zoom capability that reviewers keep mentioning is only possible because of AI enhancement - take that away and you're back to the same digital zoom limitations that every other phone has.
Should You Trust Your Phone's Camera?
Google isn't the first to use AI in cameras - Apple, Samsung, and others have been using computational photography for years. But Pro Res Zoom crosses into new territory by generating image content rather than just optimizing what was captured.
For casual users who want better vacation photos, this might be great. For anyone who needs accurate documentation, it's a problem. The real issue is that Google doesn't clearly distinguish between "enhanced" and "generated" content in the camera interface.
If you're buying a Pixel 10 Pro, just remember that your zoom photos might be partially fictional. Whether that matters depends on what you're planning to do with those images.