- Kyle Chua
Viral Video Shows Off AI-Powered Camera With No Lens
Updated: Dec 19, 2023
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more and more advanced by the day, so advanced that it might completely change how you might eventually use a camera.
A viral video on the internet shows how a special, AI-powered camera can snap a photo of a specific place and moment without the need for lenses. Instead of having light enter the camera and hitting either a film or a digital sensor, the strange yet innovative novelty leverages location data and generative AI to churn out photos for you.
Developed by design professional Bjørn Karmann, the camera, which he calls Paragraphica, features a bright red miniature satellite in place of the lens. That satellite collects geolocation data, which the camera uses to describe your exact location. The real-time description of the location is then displayed on the viewfinder and pressing the equivalent of the shutter would have the onboard text-to-image AI generate an accurate photo representation of it. The physical dials, meanwhile, allow you to control the data and set AI parameters to change the appearance of the photo, which is almost the same as how you might adjust the aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings of a traditional camera.
"The resulting 'photo' is not just a snapshot, but a complex and nuanced reflection of the location you are at and perhaps how the AI model 'sees' that place," said Karmann when describing the resulting photos from his Paragraphica camera.
To create the camera, Karmann placed a Raspberry Pi 4 computer circuit and custom electronics inside a 3D-printed housing. He also connected a 15-inch touchscreen panel to serve as the viewfinder. He then used Noodl to build the web app that communicates between the camera and the multiple APIs that generate the location-based prompts and the image itself.
Paragraphica exists both as a physical prototype and a virtual camera that you can try online.
The camera drew mixed reactions online, with some social media users finding it cool while others are confused about what it's for. Karmann did clarify in a tweet that the camera is simply his "passion art project", and he has no intention of making a product that would challenge existing photography products.
A viral video shows how a special, AI-powered camera can snap a photo of a specific place and moment without the need for lenses.
Instead of having light enter the camera and hitting either a frame of film or a digital sensor, the strange yet innovative novelty leverages location data and generative AI to churn out photos for you.
Paragraphica, as it's called by its developer Bjørn Karmann, exists both as a physical prototype and a virtual camera that you can try online.