locater16 shares a report from IEEE Spectrum: One morning in 2019, Adebayo Alonge was in a Cape Town hotel room, preparing to demonstrate his startup's AI answer to a serious problem in African health care: counterfeit medication, which kills thousands of people across the continent every year. The RxScanner is a handheld spectrometer that scans a pill with infrared light, then sends the item's molecular profile to an AI model equipped with a pharmaceutical database. In seconds, the AI identifies the medication from its molecular profile -- or reports that it's phony.
Pharmacies were using the system in more than a dozen countries, including Ghana, Kenya, Myanmar, and Alonge's native Nigeria. But that morning in South Africa, it didn't work. "I was shocked," Alonge says... So Alonge immediately asked his engineers to shrink the AI model down to a smaller, low-power, unconnected version that could run entirely on his Android phone. They produced it 2 hours later, and that saved the demo. More importantly, the work birthed a new version of his device, which can authenticate a pill in places without broadband, computers, or even reliable electricity. It also turned Alonge into an advocate for this kind of "small AI." "The article goes on to detail other immediately useful 'small' AI applications without any subscription or billion dollar data centers needed," writes locator16. For example, Bala Murugan and colleagues at Vellore Institute of Technology in India developed a drone-based system that photographs cashew plants and identifies disease-indicating splotches on the plants. The key advantage is that all processing happens on the drone itself, so farmers do not need a computer, broadband connection, or cloud server access.
In a Uruguayan vineyard, researchers developed small-AI systems to identify ant infestations. The article doesn't go deep into the deployment details, but it presents this as another example of a narrow, localized model trained to recognize a specific agricultural threat. Small AI has also been used to detect the presence of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in multiple countries. This is especially useful in regions where public-health teams may lack reliable network access or expensive lab infrastructure, but still need fast, local detection.
In parts of Brazil without access to more complex medical equipment, researchers have used small AI to run electrocardiograms from an Arduino device. The article also describes Marcelo Jose Rovai's work on a TinyML model that generates electrocardiograms in a patient simulator lab. Rovai also describes a newer experiment using an Arduino UNO Q with a Qualcomm chipset. The device runs a language model locally, collects sensor data, and analyzes it to detect tiny pools of water where mosquitoes might breed -- while using only about 3 watts of power.
"A year ago, the message from many business leaders was that AI was going to wipe out jobs," remembers the Wall Street Journal.But "For the past month or so, tech CEOs have been striking a more optimistic tone."
In late May, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman — who has long predicted that AI will lead to seismic shifts in the workforce — said during a conference, "We've been roughly right on technological predictions and pretty wrong on the social and economic implications." Soon after, he told CNBC, "Our industry underestimated how much we're going to be able to keep people at the center of everything."
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who warned in May 2025 that artificial intelligence could eliminate half of entry-level jobs, a year later highlighted more positive scenarios for AI-adopting businesses: "They can do the same thing with less resources, and that leads to things like layoffs, or they can do more with the same amount of resources. But that requires creativity...."
Is the sunnier outlook a move to win back customers and the public who are souring on AI's world-upending promise? Or is the role of AI in the workplace now just better understood...?
Collectively, the narrative has shifted from worker-light doomsday scenarios caused by AI to a future in which workers keep their jobs — and get a productivity boost. The sentiment change isn't limited to tech leaders: A survey by EY-Parthenon found that the percentage of CEOs who believe AI investments will result in significant reductions in head count fell from around 46% in January 2025 to just 20% this May.
"They may have noticed that the labor market is genuinely not changing (i.e., imploding) as rapidly as they expected," said David Autor, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "They may have realized it was simply bad business to say that your great new product will destroy the economy."
The article notes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos "has a history of predicting that AI will create new jobs," and in June said AI could even lead to a labor shortage. "When asked on CNBC in May about people being afraid of AI taking jobs, he said the reason they're afraid is because 'all these smart people keep saying that.'"
The article then adds that "Fewer people are saying it now."
"Mozilla shut down the well-loved read-it-later Pocket app last year, and now Meta is launching an app called Pocket with an entirely different, AI-focused pitch," writes The Verge.
While it's not available for downloads in most locations, Meta's Pocket will allow people "to generate small, interactive apps and games using AI prompts," writes TechCrunch. They're called "gizmos", and Pocket "also offers a scrollable feed where you can play with gizmos others have made."
Some context from The Verge:
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is all in on AI as the new social media, and he's previously described a vision of how users could use AI to make interactive experiences and share them with people. The launch of Pocket appears to be one manifestation of that idea... It follows Meta hiring engineers from a company called Atma Sciences Inc., which made an app called Gizmo, as Business Insider reported in March.
On a help center page, Meta also describes a gizmo as a "playable AI-generated experience," and when you post one, Meta says you can choose to let other people remix them.
"Based on the app's screenshots in Google Play, there are many similarities to Gizmo's original app, which is still listed," notes TechCrunch.
"Pocket is another example of Meta's push to make AI creation tools more mainstream, extending its earlier efforts, which included AI-generated images created via its Meta AI app and AI videos created with its app called Vibes. It has also added AI features across its social platforms... "
Given that Meta has not officially announced Pocket's debut, it's likely that Pocket is still in its initial experimentation phase. Its counterpart Gizmo, however, had generated 635,000 lifetime installs across both iOS and Google Play, according to Appfigures, which noted it had a 98% positive sentiment.
"Companies spending heavily on AI are growing headcount faster, even in the entry-level roles that many fear are doomed," writes TechCrunch. That's the conclusion of new report tracking AI spending from Ramp's corporate card/bill pay data as well as Revelio Labs' workforce records from 21,599 U.S. firms:
According to the report, "high-intensity adopters" — firms that spend on average $30 per employee per month on AI in the first three months — saw headcount increase 10.2%. Headcount also rose across functions, including engineering, sales, administration, customer service, finance, marketing, and scientist roles. The strongest job growth among high-intensity adopters was in the information sector, which includes software, internet, media, and tech-adjacent firms.
Despite these positive signals, the data isn't as rosy as it seems. It skews heavily toward tech-forward, knowledge-work firms — ones that might have VC-backing and are growing fast anyway, making it difficult to say whether AI is contributing to the hiring or just showing up at companies that are expanding anyway. "This paper does not show that AI universally creates jobs," the paper's authors admit, "but it does counter claims that AI will lead to broad job losses."
It also counters claims that AI is killing all junior jobs. Recent research from Goldman Sachs found that AI has already erased about 16,000 net jobs per month over the past year, with Gen Z and entry-level workers taking the brunt of the burden. But in tech-forward firms, the report finds that entry-level headcount actually rose by 12%... "For software and technology firms, AI can make core output cheaper or faster to produce: writing code, debugging, building internal tools, producing technical documentation, and supporting product development," the report reads. "Lower production costs in these workflows can raise the return to expanding the whole firm, not just the engineering team."
But companies that buy subscriptions and run pilots, yet did not go on to make sustained investments, don't tend to see any gains in headcount, per the report. That sets up the potential for a widening gap between firms that have the resources — like capital, technical staff, founder networks, and management bandwidth — to turn AI adoption into actual business gains and those that are stuck experimenting with subscriptions. In other words, this report suggests that firms that already have the resources are the ones that will see the largest gains.
CNBC argues another AI "narrative" was challenged this week: that open source can't make money. "The assumption was that giving your model away for free meant no business. That's breaking too, as open-model companies start posting real revenue and enterprises move from renting AI to running their own."
Microsoft is investing $2.5 billion in a new group "assisting clients with AI implementations," reports CNBC:
[Microsoft] said Thursday that 6,000 employees will be embedded with clients, in a practice that's become known as forward deployed engineering [or FDE]... The announcement comes two days after cloud rival Amazon said it was putting $1 billion behind an FDE initiative to support fast-paced AI engagements. Leading AI labs Anthropic and OpenAI both established FDE groups in May, partnering with private equity firms, banks and consulting firms.
Alongside its technology peers, Microsoft has sunk tens of billions of dollars into building data centers that run generative AI models. Microsoft has also released a variety of AI services, with mixed results. The Microsoft 365 Copilot AI assistant has yet to gain anything approaching ubiquity in the business world, and the GitHub Copilot coding agent has ceded market share to newer players. Microsoft's stock has slumped 21% this year, by far the worst performance among the mega-cap tech companies. One concern on Wall Street is that AI models that quickly compose code might threaten mature software companies...
Microsoft has for years provided support and implementation services to customers. The company generated about $2.1 billion in revenue from enterprise and partner services in the March quarter, up 2.5% from a year earlier.
Quelles seront les voitures électriques à découvrir au Mondial de l'Auto de Paris 2026 ? Cette édition devrait être l'endroit choisi par de nombreuses marques pour exposer leurs nouveautés. Voici les modèles attendus.
Evoto AI is a powerful, AI-driven photo editing platform built specifically for professional photographers who want to dramatically speed up their post-production workflow without sacrificing natural-looking results. It combines advanced per-face retouching, intelligent batch processing, color grading tools, and creative features like the AI Lab into one seamless system that supports the entire process – from tethered shooting and culling to final delivery. Available on desktop, mobile, iPad, and in the browser, Evoto helps photographers handle high-volume work efficiently while maintaining creative control.
Professional photography has always been a race against time – especially after the shutter clicks. Between culling thousands of frames, meticulous skin retouching, stray hair removal, color consistency, and client delivery, post-production can eat up days that could otherwise be spent shooting or with clients.
Evoto AI (evoto.ai) positions itself as the solution: a specialized, AI-first photo editing and retouching platform built specifically for working photographers who need speed, consistency, and natural-looking results without sacrificing control.
Product Information & Key Features
Evoto is an all-in-one AI photo editing suite that covers the full workflow from tethered capture through culling, retouching, color work, and delivery. It runs as a native desktop app (macOS & Windows), with companion iPad/mobile apps and a browser-based version for lighter or on-the-go use. There’s also Evoto Video for portrait retouching and color correction on moving footage, plus an Instant Photo Gallery tool for client proofing and delivery. The software handles both RAW and JPEG files and is fast – users and benchmarks routinely report processing hundreds of images in minutes once presets are dialed in.
Standout AI capabilities include:
Per-face / subject-aware retouching: Skin smoothing that preserves natural texture (freckles, pores), blemish/acne/wrinkle reduction, skin tone balancing, glasses glare removal, stray hair cleanup (inside and outside the frame), red-eye fix, teeth whitening/straightening, and even “open eyes” fixes.
Body & clothing tools: Subtle slimming, wrinkle/de-blemish removal on clothes, and color-changing options.
Background & environment tools: One-click or masked background removal/clean-up, distraction removal, sky replacement, and backdrop enhancement.
Smart culling: AI quickly flags and removes closed eyes, blurry shots, and duplicates.
Batch intelligence: Apply edits or presets across a set; the AI adapts per image rather than applying blunt global filters.
Additional tools: AI-based old-photo restoration, color matching/grading, tethered shooting support, and a preset system with sync across devices.
AI Color Adjustments
AI Color Adjustments in Evoto AI combine intuitive manual controls with intelligent AI assistance to deliver fast, consistent, and professional color grading across single images or large batches. Photographers can fine-tune exposure, white balance, brightness, tone balance, HSL, curves, and color masking in a Lightroom-style interface, while AI-powered tools like AI Color Match intelligently transfer the tone, mood, and color profile from a reference image to an entire set – ensuring unified results even when lighting varies across a wedding, event, or portrait session. This hybrid approach allows for both precise creative control and automated corrections that adapt naturally to skin tones, backgrounds, and subject matter, dramatically reducing the time spent chasing color consistency while preserving a realistic, non-plastic look that clients expect from professional work.
AI Color Adjustments
AI Color Adjustments in Evoto AI is a comprehensive, intelligent color grading system that blends precise manual controls with powerful AI-driven tools to deliver fast, consistent, and natural-looking results for individual images or large batches.
The AI Color Tools provide an intuitive Lightroom-style panel for fine-tuning exposure, white balance, brightness, tone balance, HSL, curves, color masking, and filters, while AI-powered features like AI Color Match allow photographers to instantly transfer the tone, mood, and color profile from a reference image to an entire set -ensuring unified results even when lighting conditions vary across a wedding, event, or portrait session. Complementing these are the
AI Style (also referred to as AI Color Looks) provides one-click, AI-driven stylistic transformations that intelligently analyze each photo and apply a predetermined aesthetic or “vibe” with natural, adaptive results. With over 20 pro-grade options ranging from warm and cinematic to vintage film, bright modern, or clean natural looks, the algorithms automatically correct color, contrast, and tone to match the chosen style while respecting the original image’s lighting and subject characteristics. This makes it exceptionally powerful for high-volume workflows – such as applying a cohesive “film-inspired” or “high-end portrait” look across an entire wedding gallery in seconds – while still allowing photographers to tweak intensity or combine multiple styles for a custom signature aesthetic that elevates their brand without hours of manual grading.
Presets
Presets functionality in Evoto AI is a cornerstone of efficient, repeatable workflows, letting photographers save any combination of retouching settings, AI Color Adjustments, AI Styles, and manual tweaks as reusable, one-click presets that can be applied to individual images or synced intelligently across entire batches. Official recommended presets (Natural, High-End Portrait, Event, Cinematic, Family, etc.) provide excellent starting points, while users can easily create and organize their own custom presets, capturing a specific color grade plus skin and hair retouching, for example, and apply them consistently across future shoots or different devices via cloud sync. This system not only slashes editing time on high-volume jobs but also helps maintain a recognizable, professional style that strengthens a photographer’s brand identity and enables faster client deliveries.
AI Lab
AI Lab in Evoto AI is a dedicated creative hub (accessed via an icon in the top-left of the Edit interface) that houses advanced, high-resolution AI tools designed for complex editing tasks beyond standard retouching. It specializes in intelligent removal and compositing features, such as People Removal (with auto-detection and passerby selection to cleanly eliminate unwanted individuals from backgrounds), Smart Removal / AI Object Remover for distractions, and AI Background Fusion, which enables sophisticated cutouts and scene compositing, perfect for placing subjects into new environments like school gymnasiums, stages, or custom backdrops. These generative tools deliver professional-grade, full-resolution results while preserving natural lighting and edges, making them invaluable for wedding, event, school, and portrait photographers who frequently need to clean up busy scenes or create polished composites without hours of manual masking in Photoshop. By consolidating these powerful capabilities into one streamlined workspace with its own credit model for generative actions, AI Lab significantly expands Evoto’s utility from fast retouching into true creative production, helping photographers deliver cleaner, more polished final images efficiently.
Evoto Mobile and Evoto Online
Evoto Mobile and Evoto Online extend the power of Evoto AI beyond the desktop, giving photographers true flexibility across devices and locations.
The Mobile version (available on iPad and smartphones) delivers a full-featured AI editing experience optimized for on-the-go use, supporting portrait retouching, color correction, batch processing, preset application, and even tethered shooting directly from compatible cameras. This makes it ideal for location photographers who want to cull, retouch, and show clients polished previews in real time, often closing sales on-site before leaving the session.
Evoto Online is a browser-based editor that provides instant access to core AI tools without installing software, making it especially useful for quick edits, e-commerce product work, background removal, and color adjustments on any computer. Both versions sync seamlessly with the desktop app via the cloud, allowing photographers to start a project on their main workstation, continue refining on an iPad while traveling or at a client meeting, and even perform light edits or client proofing in a browser when needed. Together, they transform Evoto from a powerful studio tool into a complete, location-independent workflow solution that keeps high-quality AI retouching and color work accessible wherever the photographer works.
Evoto Beta and Stable Versions
When downloading Evoto AI, users can choose between the Beta and Stable versions, giving photographers flexibility depending on their priorities.
The Stable version is the recommended choice for most professional users, as it offers a thoroughly tested and reliable experience with fewer bugs, making it ideal for high-volume workflows where consistent performance is critical.
In contrast, the Beta version provides early access to the newest features, AI tools, and improvements – often updated weekly, allowing photographers to test cutting-edge capabilities before they reach the stable release. While the Beta channel is excellent for those who enjoy experimenting with the latest innovations and don’t mind occasional glitches, most working photographers opt for the Stable version to maintain smooth, uninterrupted editing sessions. Evoto makes it easy to switch between the two on their download page, so users can start with Stable for reliability and move to Beta when they want to explore upcoming tools.
Brand Description
Streamlining the workflow for professional photographers worldwide, powered by AI.
Evoto was founded with a clear mission: let AI handle the repetitive “pixel work” so photographers can focus on creativity, storytelling, and client relationships. The company (led by founder/CEO Mitta) has grown rapidly by targeting high-volume professionals – wedding, portrait, newborn, event, school, and commercial shooters, as well as studios that need consistent results at scale.
It claims a large global user base (1M+ photographers across 200+ countries/regions and tens of thousands of collaborating studios). The brand emphasizes ethical AI practices: images are not used to train models without consent, and the platform is GDPR/CCPA compliant with secure cloud options for collaboration and cross-device sync.
Recent expansions (desktop 6.x updates, mobile/Instant apps, and video tools) show Evoto evolving from a specialized retoucher into a broader workflow platform that competes with traditional tools while carving out its AI-retouching niche.
Workflow Examples & Real-World Use Cases
Typical high-volume wedding or event workflow:
Shoot tethered (wired or wireless) directly into Evoto for instant previews and early polishing.
Run AI Smart Culling to quickly eliminate blinks, blur, and duplicates.
Apply or create a portrait preset (skin, hair, glare, teeth) and sync across the gallery, the AI handles per-face variations intelligently.
Quick global or selective color grading.
Export and deliver same-day or push to the Instant Photo Gallery for client viewing/proofing.
Many users report turning what used to be multi-day editing marathons into same-day or next-day deliveries, which improves cash flow and client satisfaction.
Portrait/headshot/fashion studio use case: Photographers often export selects from Capture One or Lightroom into Evoto for targeted cleanup (skin, stray hairs, clothes, background), then do final polish back in their main editor if needed. The per-face controls and masking tools make it excellent for preserving natural skin texture while quickly removing distractions.
On-location/mobile use case: With the iPad or mobile apps, photographers can retouch on-site, show clients polished previews in real time, and even close sales before leaving the location, a game-changer for tourist, event, or mini-session shooters.
Hybrid workflow tip (from working photographers): Do primary color correction in your usual raw processor, export selects to Evoto for AI retouching and cleanup, then finish any ultra-fine texture work in Photoshop only where necessary. This minimizes credit usage while maximizing speed.
Other niches: Newborn and maternity photographers appreciate the gentle, texture-preserving skin tools. E-commerce and content creators use the browser version for quick background removal and product cleanup. Video users are exploring newer video retouching tools to achieve consistent skin and color across talking-head or event footage.
Pricing & Value Proposition
Evoto uses a credit-based model that’s different from traditional subscriptions:
Editing, previewing, and most tools are free.
Exporting an image typically costs 1 credit per photo (some advanced generative features may cost more – you’ll see the exact cost before exporting).
Credits are purchased via annual subscription plans (best value, with rollover and cheaper add-on packs) or pay-as-you-go (more expensive per credit, 2-year expiration).
Approximate annual subscription tiers (as of mid-2026; check site for current):
Starter: ~800 credits (~$89/yr)
Basic: ~1,600 credits (~$149/yr)
Higher tiers scale up to 24,000 credits with better per-credit pricing and add-on discounts.
Pay-as-you-go options start around 200 credits for ~$49. New users usually get starter credits (often 15+), and referrals can add bonus credits.
Value verdict: For high-volume pros who deliver hundreds or thousands of images per month, the time savings (often cited as 5+ hours/day or cutting multi-day jobs to an hour) can easily justify the cost and even increase profitability by enabling faster turnarounds or bringing retouching in-house. Hobbyists or very low-volume shooters may find the credit model less attractive. Some users have noted past price adjustments, so it’s worth modeling your typical monthly exports before committing.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
Exceptionally fast and natural-looking portrait and subject retouching.
Intelligent batch/sync tools that adapt per image.
Strong tethered + culling + retouch + delivery workflow in one app.
Cross-platform sync (desktop iPad mobile).
Ethical/privacy stance and regular feature updates.
Free to experiment until you export.
Cons:
The credit system requires planning (especially for very high volumes or if you re-export after external edits).
Not a full layer-based compositor like Photoshop – best used for targeted cleanup rather than heavy compositing.
AI tools (especially culling or complex backgrounds) sometimes need manual refinement.
Extreme close-ups or ultra-high-end skin texture work may still benefit from finishing in Photoshop.
Overall verdict:Evoto AI is one of the strongest specialized AI retouching tools available to professional photographers in 2026, particularly for portrait, wedding, and event work, as well as any high-volume work where speed and consistency matter. It won’t completely replace a skilled retoucher or your full creative suite for every job, but it dramatically accelerates the most time-consuming parts of the job while delivering results that clients and photographers describe as natural rather than “AI-plastic.”
Conclusion
Evoto AI stands out as one of the most capable and photographer-focused AI editing platforms available in 2026, combining powerful per-face retouching, intelligent batch processing, advanced color tools (including AI Color Match and AI Style), creative features like the AI Lab for object removal and background fusion, and seamless cross-platform support across desktop, mobile/iPad, and browser versions. By automating the most time-consuming aspects of post-production while still giving photographers precise control and natural-looking results, it enables faster turnarounds, consistent quality across high-volume shoots, and even on-site client presentations that can directly boost sales. While its credit-based pricing model requires some planning, especially for high-volume users, the significant time savings and workflow efficiency often make it a worthwhile investment for professional wedding, portrait, event, and studio photographers. For anyone looking to reduce editing burnout, bring more work in-house, or simply deliver polished galleries faster without sacrificing quality, Evoto AI is well worth testing. Photographers can download the desktop app or try the mobile and online versions for free to experience how it fits into their own workflow.
Connexion
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