Artificial intelligence (AI) photo technology doesn’t have to be used for copyright-infringing, social-fabric-ripping purposes. It’s actually quite good at sprucing up your photos.

Photoshop’s new Generative Expand tool uses AI to uncrop a photo, which is exactly the sort of nifty tool that AI is good at, and which would be impossible without it. And Photoshop, along with a bunch of other retouching apps, can also remove unwanted objects, soften distracting backgrounds, and otherwise do in seconds what used to take a human hours. The same underlying technology is also responsible for unrealistic beauty filters that destroy our self-confidence, but does that mean we can’t have nice things?

"Cameras are still at a disadvantage to our eyes, especially in low-light situations. The file lacks vibrant color and contrast until post-processing is done. With AI retouching, we can speed up the process, explore different options in Photoshop, and make edits with more confidence. These are edits that may have been done before AI technology anyway," pro photographer Clark Stinson told Lifewire via email.

It has become painfully clear in recent years that a photograph is not a slice of reality. Deep fakes and beauty filters are the biggest examples, but reality (or lack thereof) can be much more subtle. Photojournalists may not be allowed to retouch their photos, but they can choose what to include and what not to include by pointing the camera in a different direction.