Sony unveils image sensor with integrated AI
Other sensor chips need to transfer an image to a separate computer for that type of analysis, but Sony has built AI right into the processor itself

Each week, we spotlight a cool innovation recommended by some of the industry's top tech writers. This week's pick is AI for cameras.
Sony unveiled the first image sensor with integrated AI to "make cameras smarter," said James Vincent at The Verge. Mobile devices already have image-sensor processors, which are how the pixels captured by a camera get compressed into a JPEG for rapid sharing. The next step is machine learning that would quickly identify objects and people in the images "like a human would."
(Courtesy image)
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Other sensor chips need to transfer an image to a separate computer for that type of analysis, but Sony has built AI right into the processor itself. It's not only safer, it's faster. "Processing information as quickly as possible is paramount" in certain industrial workplace settings, for instance: A robot with an integrated AI image sensor could "detect a human where they shouldn't be" and quickly prevent an accident.
This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Book reviews: ‘Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America’ and ‘How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, 1978–1998’
Feature A political ‘witch hunt’ and Helen Garner’s journal entries
By The Week US Published
-
The backlash against ChatGPT's Studio Ghibli filter
The Explainer The studio's charming style has become part of a nebulous social media trend
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Why are student loan borrowers falling behind on payments?
Today's Big Question Delinquencies surge as the Trump administration upends the program
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published