Google's AI-powered "Add Me" for group pictures still has one big flaw

Have you ever taken group pictures but someone gets accidentally left out? If so, Google may come to the rescue with its new AI and augmented reality-powered feature called “Add Me.”

Launched during the Made by Google 2024 event, the Add Me feature simply works by merging two separate photos—one of the group and another of the person who took the first photo—into a single image where everyone is included.

The feature is now available on the newly launched Pixel 9 phones, which includes the regular Pixel 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, and 9 Pro Fold.

It does sound promising indeed, but testers found that the Add Me feature still struggles with different backgrounds and aligning photos properly. It would be much better if it could handle different photo directions, like switching from horizontal to vertical, but there’s still room for improvement.

Speaking of which, Google also brings a few upgrades here and there for the devices’ cameras and photography features. In hindsight, you get better lenses for photos and videos, a new HDR+ imaging pipeline for more accurate colors, and video features like Super Res Zoom and 8K resolution.

Besides “Add Me,” you also get AI-powered Magic Editor and an improved Night Sight for panoramas and Zoom Enhance for post-capture zoom.

Google arrived with massive announcements during the annual event, including the launch of the new Pixel 9 phones, which feature these AI capabilities including the Recall-like “Pixel Screenshots.” and Gemini Live’s humanoid voice mode. The company also introduced the Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Buds Pro 2.