A new iOS app called Phota Labs gives users access to a personal AI photo assistant that turns everyday snapshots into images that look like they were taken by a professional photographer, all while preserving the authenticity of the image. 

Rather than giving consumers yet another photo-editing tool, Phota Labs aims to use advances in AI to automate the editing process so it’s easier for anyone to get access to better photos.

The a16z-backed startup was founded by Cecilia Zhang and Zach Xia, who met at Adobe while working on computational photography products, including Project Indigo, Lightroom, and Photoshop. 

The duo saw a gap in the editing tools on the market and believed that although editing tools can be powerful for enhancing photos, they aren’t very effective at fixing a photo that wasn’t captured well in the first place. Phota Labs changes that by focusing on fixing the shot itself while preserving the natural appearances of those in the image. 

“Phota is your personal photo assistant that can make great photos for any moment you want to keep before you even ask, which means that it’s a very proactive experience,” Zhang told TechCrunch in an interview. “Think of it almost like a photographer or virtual photographer who looks over your camera roll and tries to understand what’s happening and how they could have taken that photo for you on the spot for that scene.”

The idea is to use AI to transform photos, whether that’s turning a wide-angle group photo into a tighter portrait or transforming a selfie into a regular shot.

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