Of all the evil companies that could enter the camera market, one that we’re really shocked at is OpenAI. I mean, come on, even Samsung pulled out years ago! If two new job descriptions are to be believed, OpenAI is probably hiring folks to create their own cameras. Just imagine it: an OpenAI Camera! They’re paying quite well for those positions, too.
We were tipped off that OpenAI is hiring for the position of Camera Firmware Engineer and Camera ISP Software Engineer. Both of these positions are based in California. And to us, it really sounds like they’re building their own camera:
As a Camera Firmware Engineer, you will own low-level camera enablement on custom hardware—from early board bring-up through stable production capture. You will develop and maintain the firmware and software that makes camera sensors reliable, controllable, and debuggable, forming the foundation for higher-level camera pipelines and product features.
This role is highly hands-on and systems-oriented. You will work close to the hardware, diagnose real-world timing and integration issues, and build tooling that accelerates iteration across the entire camera stack.
Is this a reason for photographers to be afraid? I’m not at all ruling that out as photography will probably become more and more of a niche and art form meant for mental health. But what should be kept in mind is how slow governments usually act when trying to control issues that arise from technology like this. Sony obviously provides the sensors for these and Taiwanese companies usually provide the processors. However, OpenAI is also using a whole lot of NVIDIA hardware — and some of that may be packed into what they plan on doing.
Perhaps more fascinating is that if OpenAI doesn’t go after making a camera, they could probably make a phone of some sort that includes a quite unique OpenAI Camera.
Another idea that I’ve thought of is that OpenAI is working on a B2B product to sell to various other imaging suppliers. Sony could be a big one — but also Apple and Google are most likely to have the money to work with OpenAI on what they’re doing here. OpenAI powered cameras aren’t too crazy to think about. But what’s done with them is probably the insane thing.
At a certain point, I truly hope that Adobe really pushes their Content Authenticity Initiative to show what’s made with AI and what isn’t. More importantly, I hope that the rest of the web works faster to adapt it. But these days and under the crazy administration the US has, I don’t think it will happen any time soon. The EU may also take a very long time to get this sorted.
Call it philistine, but I want less technology in my cameras, my phones, my computers, etc. At least, I want more features and things that are actually helpful instead of designed to take jobs away from other people. You can’t use ChatGPT to write something for you instead of hiring a professional writer while you try to prevent it from taking your personal job. The protections need to be for everyone here.