The sleeper hit of Apple’s iPad event could be its new AI-powered Photos app

Time to Clean Up

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Appleis expected to introduce somebrand new iPadsat its launch event today, May 7 – which gets underway at 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm BST (May 8 at 12am AEST). But the latest rumor is that we might also get our first look at the generative AI features Apple has been busy working on.

According to sources speaking toAppleInsider, we could get a preview of a photo editing feature known as Clean Up. As you might guess from the name, it would leverage AI smarts to remove objects from images and apply other instant edits.

The feature is apparently set to replace the Retouch tool currently available in Apple Photos for macOS – but AppleInsider understands that something similar might be coming to Photos for iPadOS too, for making AI-powered edits on the go.

It looks likely that we’llget a new Apple Pencilalongside the updated iPads today, and the report says there’s a “possibility” Apple could well choose to demonstrate the capabilities of the new stylus with a little bit of AI photo editing. Alternatively, we might have to wait forWWDC 2024in June to see the new photo editing tricks.

AI preview

As spotted byMacRumors, Apple has added an interactive eraser feature toits websiteto help promote the iPad launch event. You can scrub over the Apple logo with the cursor to cycle through different versions of it – which is perhaps just a bit of fun or perhaps another hint at the Clean Up tool.

There has certainly beena substantial amount of chatterfrom well-placed sources around the idea that today’s event will feature AI demos as well as new hardware. These AI features might not all be ready to go, but they could still be mentioned.

Another rumor we’ve heard is that the refreshed iPad Pros for 2024 could comerunning Apple M4 chips– chips that haven’t yet been announced. That extra on-board performance would perhaps enable generative AI features for the first time on an Apple device.

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The official wordis that this is going to be a “different kind of Apple event”, so we’re very much looking forward to what’s in store: iPads, an Apple Pencil, and maybe some AI photo editing features. We’ll be covering all the news and announcements as they happen, and we’ve got a comprehensive guide onhow to watch the event.

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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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