Owners of Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones often notice a small but bright “AI” icon in the camera interface. Many users simply leave it on by default, without thinking about what complex algorithms work in the background. In fact, this is not just a marketing ploy, but a full-fledged artificial intelligence module that analyzes the image in real time.
When you point a lens at an object, the device's processor performs instantaneous analysis of the scene, identifying dozens of different parameters, and the neural network compares the image to a huge database of reference photos to see if you're facing a sunset, a food, a text, or a pet, and that's what the final processing of the image depends on.
Understanding the principles of work AI-The system automatically adjusts exposure, saturation and contrast to make the shot look as spectacular as possible. However, blind trust in automation is not always justified, as algorithms can be wrong or overwork with processing.
The principle of operation of the neural network in the chamber
It's based on computer vision technology that can recognize more than 200 different scenes, and it takes a fraction of a second to do this, and it reads light. ISP-The Image Signal Processor processes data using instructions from the neural network, so if the system sees the sky, it makes it deeper and bluer, and if the greens add juiciness to the grass.
It's important to understand that algorithms don't just apply a filter, they change the parameters of shooting dynamically. For example, when shooting documents, the system increases the sharpness of the edges of letters and removes color noise, making the background whiter. In portrait mode, artificial intelligence separates the object from the background, creating a bokeh effect, even if the smartphone does not have a telephoto lens with optical zoom.
⚠️ Attention: In some cases, aggressive work AI It can lead to unnatural colors, for example, the grass can turn neon green, and the skin of the face acquire an unnatural orange hue.
Modern models like the Xiaomi 13 Pro or Redmi Note 13 Pro+ use more advanced versions of these algorithms, trained on millions of images, which allows the system to better cope with complex lighting and save details in shadows that a normal shooting mode would simply turn into a black spot.
Technical details of processing
Recognition of scenes and objects
The main feature that the user sees is the pop-up names of scenes in the corner of the screen. The camera can identify specific objects, such as Cat, Document, Sky, Sunset or Macro. Each of these has its own categorized white balance and exposure adjustment settings.
When you point the camera at a restaurant, you activate the Food mode, which is when the system increases the saturation of warm colors, making the dish more appetizing in appearance, and if you shoot the text, you turn on the Documents mode, which aligns the perspective and makes the background as bright as possible for better readability.
- 🌿 Nature: Enhances green foliage and blue water, making landscapes brighter.
- 🐕 Animals: Focuses on the pet's eyes and increases the detailing of the coat, ignoring movement.
- 🌃 Night: Automatically switches algorithms to long shutter speed and noise cancellation for night shooting.
- 📄 Text: Removes shadows and aligns the sheet, turning the photo into a scanned copy.
It is worth noting that the number of scenes recognized depends on the version of the MIUI shell or HyperOS, as well as the region in which the smartphone is purchased. Global versions sometimes have a stripped down list of scenes compared to Chinese firmware due to differences in software.
Improving the quality of portraits and selfies
The AI Beautify feature uses depth maps and facial dot recognition to retouch the system, can smooth out skin, change facial shape, add makeup, or even change lighting after the fact.
Unlike simple filters, the neural network understands the three-dimensional structure of the face, so it doesn't just blur the texture of the skin, it preserves important details like eyelashes and hair texture, removing only defects like pimples or redness, and it allows you to get a studio result without using sophisticated equipment.
| Function | Description of action | Influence on photo |
|---|---|---|
| Smoothing | Remove small irregularities of the skin | Skin looks perfect but may lose texture |
| Colour of face | Corrects skin tone | Removes yellowness or pallor, adds blush |
| Face shape | Virtually changes the contours | Makes the face already or changes the shape of the chin |
| Eyes. | Enlarges and brightens the eyes | The look becomes more expressive and bright |
Users often argue about whether it is useful, on the one hand, it saves processing time in third-party applications, on the other hand, excessive use can lead to a “plastic face” effect, where the person in the photo no longer looks like himself.
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For natural photos, set beautify sliders to minimum values (10-20%) or use Original mode if available in your version of the camera.
Impact on color reproduction and detailing
One of the key challenges AI-The algorithms tend to make the picture "selling," which is to say, pleasing to the eye, not necessarily realistic, which means the sky will be bluer than in life, and the sunsets brighter.
In complex lighting, such as mixed lights and windows, automation tries to bring colors to a common denominator. But there's a risk that white balance may be misdefined, and the whole photo will go into a cold or warm hue. Details in such modes often suffer from aggressive noise cancellation.
If you’re shooting for professional processing or appreciate realism, it’s best to turn off scene improvement. In standard mode, Dynamic Range (HDR) works softer, storing more information in lights and shadows, giving you more freedom to edit.
⚠️ Warning: When shooting documents or important details (checks, car numbers) always turn off AI, It can distort numbers or make text unreadable due to attempts to improve contrast.
How to turn on and set up AI-camera
Managing AI is as simple as possible for the user, and the switch is usually at the top of the camera interface, and if you don't see the icon, it may be hidden in the additional settings menu, or your smartphone model doesn't support the feature at the software level.
To activate or deactivate the mode, just one touch is enough, when the icon is turned on, it lights up in color (usually yellow or blue), and the camera begins to scan the space, and you can find deeper settings in the settings, such as "Detect scenes" or "Improving portrait".
☑️ Checking camera settings
On some Xiaomi models with HyperOS shell, settings can be made in a separate menu called “Camera Magic” or"AI-A camera, where you can choose the processing style: saturated, natural, or portrait, which gives you more control over how the neural network will process your images.
Comparison of modes: with and without AI
The difference between images taken using a neural network and those taken without it can be dramatic: in AI mode, the photos look ready to be shared on social networks: they are bright, contrasting and rich; without processing, the pictures may seem faded, but more honest.
The tests show that there's minimal difference in daylight hours, but in low light or macro, algorithms do wonders, they pull details out of dark areas of the frame that would normally be black noise, but they pay for processing time, because the image can last a fraction of a second longer.
For an objective comparison, we recommend taking a series of shots of one scene in different modes, and you look at the texture of the objects, the color of the sky and the skin, and it often turns out that the usual mode is better for architecture, and the artificial intelligence mode is better for nature.
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AI-The camera is ideal for quick "point and shoot", but for creative photography it is better to rely on manual settings or Pro mode.
Frequent problems and their solution
Users sometimes face a situation where the camera does not recognize obvious scenes or, conversely, sees them where they are not, this can be due to an outdated version of the camera application or errors in the neural network database, in which case cleaning the application cache helps.
Another common problem is shutter delay, and when the algorithm analyzes a scene, it can slow down slightly, making it difficult to capture the dynamic moment, and the solution is one: switch to Photo mode without improving, or use Sport mode, which prioritizes shutter speed over processing quality.