Samsung is once again in the spotlight over the authenticity of photos taken with its smartphone cameras.

Samsung’s flagship phones include a feature called “Space Zoom,” designed for taking pictures of the moon. According to a user on Reddit, the feature appears to be using AI to artificially alter and enhance photos. In the post, ibreakphotos took photos of the moon and compared that with what Samsung displayed. The results were surprising.

Interestingly, Samsung does admit to using AI to enhance photos. On the company’s CamCyclopedia site, a moderator explained the process:

The moon recognition engine was created by learning various moon shapes from full moon to crescent moon based on images that people actually see with their eyes on Earth.

It uses an AI deep learning model to show the presence and absence of the moon in the image and the area (square box) as a result. AI models that have been trained can detect lunar areas even if other lunar images that have not been used for training are inserted.

The end result is a more complete picture of the moon:

To overcome this, the Galaxy Camera applies a deep learning-based AI detail enhancement engine (Detail Enhancement technology) at the final stage to effectively remove noise and maximize the details of the moon to complete a bright and clear picture of the moon.

While it’s nice to see a Samsung rep clearly explain what is going on, it still raises questions about the authenticity of photography using a Samsung phone. It’s also disappointing that this revelation is on the company’s community site rather than more openly revealed in the company’s marketing.