Microsoft continues to enrich its tools with AI functions. Soon, the OneDrive application will receive a “magic eraser” to automatically erase unwanted elements in images.
OneDrive, Microsoft’s online file storage and sharing service, continues to grow in popularity. Thanks to it, all Microsoft account holders, that is to say almost all Windows users, have a space on which they can deposit files and synchronize the content of their different devices (computers, smartphones), in the 5 GB limit for the free version (paid options offer more comfortable storage space). The tool even had the right to an overhaul in February 2024, with a new interface and new functions, which makes it even more practical (see our article).
What few users know is that while OneDrive is very focused on online saving of files, it integrates a photo editing tool, which allows you to make simple modifications to images (cropping, adjusting brightness , contrast, exposure and others, filtering, annotations). And it is this section that Microsoft will soon enrich by planning to integrate a “magic eraser, a powerful correction function based on artificial intelligence (AI).
Popularized on smartphones by Google and Samsung, the “magic eraser” is a graphics editing tool allowing you to erase any element present on an image while filling the void left by the deletion. And unlike professional image editing software like Photoshop, you don’t need any special knowledge to use this function! A simple swipe of your finger over the item to be erased is enough!
OneDrive magic eraser: a powerful tool powered by AI
By browsing the APK code of the latest version of Microsoft OneDrive v7.1 beta 1 on Android, our colleagues atAndroid Authority discovered several lines reporting a function that strongly resembles the magic eraser. It allows you to remove an unwanted element from a photo in just a few seconds. A street lamp, a red light, a person… Anything that can spoil an image is erased thanks to artificial intelligence which is responsible for recreating pixels from those appearing around the deleted object. This is promising!
“Pass your brush over the entire area you want to remove from your photo. This feature uses AI to fill in the removed area and may not be perfect or match your expectations. If you find the results unexpected, please send us your comments”, can we read in the code extracted from the APK. Microsoft includes a warning that the deleted area may not be perfect or match the user’s expectations.
This feature is still under development, but there is a good chance that it will be rolled out eventually. Indeed, Microsoft is in the process of integrating artificial intelligence into all of its services. Soon, the Photos application on Windows will receive a magic eraser function (see our article). And that’s just the beginning !