Samsung wants us and its shareholders to recognize that its new phones are the most AI-driven devices ever created. The Fold 6, which I’m currently testing, features a new tool called “sketch to image.” With this tool, you can draw a rough sketch on a photo or an empty note page, and the generative AI will transform it into a detailed image. Initially, I dismissed this as just another AI gimmick when Samsung unveiled it at their Unpacked event — but to my surprise, it’s awe-inspiring. It’s so impressive, in fact, that it’s a bit concerning.
Sketch to Image: Fun and Easy Creativity
Using the sketch-to-image tool in a note is pretty harmless: you draw something, highlight it, and choose from styles like “3D cartoon” and “illustration” to enhance your doodle. Your image is sent to the cloud, and after a few moments, you get a handful of options. The results are generally cute and entertaining; I took suggestions from my two-year-old, and we drew goofy-looking dump trucks and school buses. Occasionally, you might get a teddy bear with too many arms, but nothing too serious.
Photorealistic Sketches: Where Things Get Strange
Things get interesting when you use a sketch to create a photo. Despite being a terrible artist, this tool turned my basic sketches into photorealistic images. The AI-generated elements blend into photos convincingly—scaled and matched to their surroundings—making them hard to distinguish as fakes.
That’s how I encountered the bee issue. I took a photo from a dock south of downtown Seattle, with some flowers in the foreground. The flowers were slightly blurred since they were close to the camera, and my focus was in the distance. I drew a crude sketch of a bee on one of the flowers, expecting the AI to insert a sharp, in-focus image of a bee, making it easy to identify as fake. I was wrong!
The AI-generated bee was also blurred, like the flower it landed on. Without knowing the AI bee’s origin, I wouldn’t have doubted the image if I had seen it on Instagram. I would assume the photographer captured the perfect moment or waited for a bee to fly into the frame — something that requires skill and patience. That wasn’t the case. Moreover, I might not even notice the “AI-generated content” watermark in the image’s corner.
Convincing but Not Perfect
While the sketch to image tool often produces convincing results, they aren’t always flawless. Many times, the images have signs of generative AI, such as strange textures or alien-looking text. They are convincing at first glance, but something feels off if you examine them closely.
Sometimes, the content itself gives it away — no one would believe I saw a massive pirate ship in Elliott Bay or a giant orange cat in a West Seattle intersection. But even when the images are outlandishly unrealistic, they look believable.
Typically, larger elements will look obviously fake. However, adding another car to a busy road photo or a distant sailboat is easy, and most people won’t notice. Apart from the AI watermark — which is easily cropped out — there’s no way to tell if anything unusual is in the image. That’s quite unsettling!
The Impact on Perception
I don’t want to exaggerate the implications. Using sketch to image is optional; many people might never even find it in the gallery app. An out-of-focus bee isn’t going to disrupt society. But we are at a peculiar juncture with AI. Sure, you could add an out-of-focus bee in Photoshop for years. However, having this capability in the same device used to take and share pictures is a different matter. The accessibility and capabilities of generative AI tools are outpacing our collective understanding of what might be real or fake when scrolling through social media.
I feel especially weird about this feature when showing it to my toddler. He’ll grow up knowing that with a button press, a rough sketch can become polished, or a photo can be enhanced effortlessly. Is this good or bad? I’m unsure, but I feel disconnected from how I perceived artistic creation as a child and how he will see it.
Fun with Generative AI
Despite my concerns, I’ve had a lot of fun sketching images. There’s a certain charm in the output of generative AI — like when it turned my green monster drawing into a massive green polar bear or a stick figure sketch into a life-size stick figure with a shadow.
Conclusion: A New Era of Photography and Truth
Is the definition of photography changing before our eyes? Is our understanding of truth in images evolving during a crucial time for democracy? Possibly. I also took a picture of a rabbit and added a tiny top hat with AI to its head. What a time to be alive.
Availability
A sketch of the image is available on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6. Samsung hasn’t confirmed if this feature will be available on other Galaxy phones, but given their history of expanding AI features to previous models, it’s very likely. Samsung aims to bring AI features to 200 million phones this year. If the blurry bee is any indicator, things are bound to get interesting.
