Artificial Intelligence is very much in vogue these days. Bubble or not, AI seems inevitable at this point. Brands, whether they are building it from the ground-up like OpenAI and Google or brands like Oppo that are putting them inside their products at a rapid pace, are all trying to introduce smarts that promise endless possibilities. This may seem as simple as summarizing a document, or something more complex like producing photos and videos with just a hint.

But as they say, with great power also comes great responsibility. With something as new and rapidly developing as AI, the line between what is real and what is not can often be blurred. Smartphone cameras have always used AI in some form, but “this” AI is different. It can bend reality, which is why we hear so many polarizing views and opinions about it on the internet today. Many people are in awe, but some are scared. There is no right or wrong in this and hence the answer is not that simple. This appears to be largely true for Oppo.

In a wide-ranging interview with India Today Tech, Simon Liu, Global Imaging Director, Oppo, laid out a vision for the future of mobile photography, where limits are defined not by the hardware in your pocket, but by the intention of the person holding it. From comparing AI to a weapon to admitting that most people don’t actually want to see reality when looking at a selfie, Liu’s insights provide a rare look into the unfiltered philosophy driving Oppo smartphones, especially the flagship Find X series.

weaponization of pixels

The most notable element of Liu’s philosophy is his stance on the ethics of Artificial Intelligence. While other tech giants spend millions on alignment and restrictive AI policies, Liu views the technology through the lens of pure utility.

“For me, AI is a neutral thing. It’s like a gun. It’s like a knife,” Liu told India Today Tech. “It’s fundamentally about the person behind the gun, not about the AI. That’s fundamentally our approach.”

According to Liu, as long as the intention is good, there should be no limits to what AI can do for a photographer. “Yes, as long as the intentions are good, basically I don’t think there are any limits to AI,” he said. “Again, if the intentions are bad, even a little AI can cause huge problems.”

science of psychological realism

Oppo’s primary goal is clear: portraits. But for Liu and his team, improving an image doesn’t mean capturing every pore with clinical precision. It’s about understanding a fundamental human truth, that we are all a little confused about how we look.

“The key difference here is to understand what the human brain actually wants. Because most of the time they don’t want reality,” Liu explained. “They have an idea in their mind of what they should be like. And it’s really not that simple, it’s easy to dig into.”

To solve this, OPPO went beyond traditional computer science. The company now hosts research groups in different cities every three to four weeks, inviting 10 to 20 people to understand the difference between what they say they want and what they actually respond to.

“We are building a science to precisely understand the human brain,” Liu said. “It’s a very strong impact factor at this point. We’re really learning very fast.”

It is this focus on the human brain that has seen OPPO’s partnership with Hasselblad enter a new, more mature phase. Liu described five years of evolution in the way the public understood Bokeh.

In the early days, Liu says, brands had to employ very strong blurbs to prove that the technology worked. By year two, users began to question whether the blurring was “progressing with depth as well as correctly.” It took almost half a decade for audiences to move to the stage where they wanted subjects and backgrounds to look balanced rather than artificial.

“It basically took five years for the general audience to reach this level,” Liu said. “That’s why we’re also evolving. At first, basically, only Hasselblad fans knew what a Hasselblad was… Now we have the chance to really achieve perfection.”

Solution to underwater problem

The Find X9 series of devices feature a change in the physical layout of the cameras. While many users may see this as purely an aesthetic choice, Liu says it was a practical engineering call.

By moving the ultra-wide lens to the upper position, Oppo solved a common frustration for mobile photographers: smudges. “It’s always like you have spots on your screen,” Liu said. But more importantly, the new position was designed for the increasingly popular use case of underwater shots.

“Even if you are taking pictures underwater… with the circular design, it was a little difficult to capture. Because there were layers of water that you could see. But when you are submerging this (new design) underwater, you get better views.”

Why did the pop-up camera remain closed?

For those indifferent to the original Find X’s mechanical pop-up cameras, Liu provided a direct reality check. Although they are “well designed” and “solve all issues”, they are still fundamentally unreliable.

“Simple, because the more things you shake on the phone, the more things can break,” Liu said. He even pointed to the modern foldable market as a cautionary tale. “Foldable screens, this is a pain for every company. I mean, the repair rate is high. So, anything that happens to the phone will bring a lot of service problems and bad user and repair experience.”

Hardware is not at peak

Is the smartphone camera dead? Have we reached the limits of what glass and silicone can do? Not even close, Liu says.

He divides the world into two contexts: the imaging context (optics, sensors, prisms) and the AI ​​context (computing power). In both, he believes the ceiling is still miles away.

“So far, I don’t think the hardware is really at its peak. In terms of the camera context. And the same answer is for the AI ​​side. We haven’t even reached the limit of computing maximum,” Liu concluded. “At the moment we are still very far from the peak.”

For Oppo, the way forward is not just about bigger sensors or faster chips, although those are important and are key USPs of current and possibly future devices. But it’s about using the neutral weapon of AI to capture the versions of ourselves that exist only in our minds. As Liu suggests, the most important part of the camera is not the lens. This is “the man behind the gun”.