Insta360 CEO’s Dream Camera Is One You Won’t Even Think About At All

Hot on the heels of Insta360’s Luna and Luna Ultra launching, Insta360’s founder JK Liu explained his long-term ambitions for cameras, namely that users will forget they even exist.

Earlier this week, PetaPixel reported about an interview Liu did with Japanese imaging website, DC.Watch. In the interview, Liu spoke about the lengthy development process for the Luna, why the cameras needed a detachable display-slash-controller, and the extent of Leica’s involvement with the Luna Ultra. Liu also said something very interesting, that he hopes “that one day everyone will forget cameras even exist.”

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For the founder of a camera company, that is quite the eyebrow-raising statement, so PetaPixel reached out to Liu to hear more.

“Last year, I took a Luna Ultra testing unit with me on a personal trip. At one point, I came across a street performance and started recording right away. But instead of enjoying it, I spent the whole time looking at the monitor, worried about losing the subject or missing the frame,” Liu tells PetaPixel.

“That moment stayed with me because it exposed a real tension in imaging: I picked up the camera because I didn’t want to miss the moment, but by focusing on the camera, I missed it anyway. Experiences like that have shaped how we think about products like POV Tracker for Luna Ultra, which lets the camera follow your head’s movement and film, so you can stay present and still capture the moment hands-free.”

For Liu, this gets at the heart of what he meant when he told DC.Watch that he hopes that one day, cameras will act like professional photographers and automatically film the content people want. He wants to create cameras that will make people think less about cameras and more about what they want cameras to help them create.

“For me, that gets to the heart of what we mean by the future cameraman. It’s not one specific device, but a long-term vision for cameras to behave more like a real cameraman: seeing what matters, understanding the scene, following the action, and filming for you without constantly demanding your attention,” Liu continues.

The Future Camera Operator

As for what this could look like, Liu posits a robotic imaging system.

PetaPixel has seen some of these sorts of devices already, ranging from full-blown walking robotic camera operators to more stationary, hands-free cameras that automatically track athletes. The ways in which AI and robotics can work together in image capture are expansive.

“AI is the brain, the lens is the eye, and stabilization and motion systems give it the ability to move naturally,” Liu explains. “The camera should adapt to the moment, not force you to adapt to the camera.”

Liu says there are three key ingredients to building the future camera operator. It must “see, understand, and act.”

“First, it needs to see more of the world. That’s why 360 imaging matters so much to us. A traditional camera captures a narrow frame; a 360 camera captures the full scene. That gives both the user and the AI much more context, reduces the chance of missing something important, and creates a stronger foundation for tracking, reframing, and scene understanding,” Liu tells PetaPixel.

“Second, it needs spatial intelligence. The camera has to understand depth, motion, orientation, and what’s happening in the environment—not just record pixels, but understand the scene.

“Third, it needs to act in real time. That means tracking subjects, stabilizing footage, composing shots, predicting movement, and eventually making smarter filming decisions on its own. If it can’t respond instantly, it doesn’t really behave like a cameraman.

“So for us, the future cameraman sits at the intersection of sensing, on-device AI, computational imaging, and robotics. The goal is for the camera to stop being just a recording tool and start becoming an active creative partner.”

Liu Believes Insta360 Is Closer to This Dream Than People Realize

While it may sound like this futuristic, robotic, AI-powered camera system is more of a pipe dream than a product just around the corner, Liu says that may not be true.

“I think we’re closer than many people realize, even if the fully autonomous version is still ahead of us.”

Insta360 is already building many of the required building blocks, Liu says, including AI-based stitching, FlowState stabilization, subject tracking, reframing, automatic editing, and extensive on-device image processing.

“They may look like separate features, but together they show the same shift — the camera is starting to perceive, understand, and assist,” Liu says.

For Liu, one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle is 360° imaging, which Insta360 has, as its name suggests, been doing since its founding over a decade ago.

“Our background in 360 imaging matters a lot here. We’ve spent years building capabilities in 360 capture and computational imaging, and have developed spatial understanding based on these. That gives us a different starting point from traditional camera systems, because we’re not just capturing a narrow frame — we’re preserving much more of the scene and creating more freedom for both the user and the AI afterward.”

Insta360’s “shoot first, frame later” approach is not just a product concept but part of a much broader AI strategy.

Liu says there’s a deeper meaning behind “shoot first, frame later,” too.

“It reduces the fear of missing the moment and removes the pressure to make perfect decisions in real time. First, you remove the anxiety of capture. Then you give people the freedom to be present.

“If the long-term goal is a camera that can frame, follow, and eventually act more autonomously, then full visual context is a major advantage,” Liu affirms.

On the research and development side, Liu says Insta360 is investing heavily in numerous technologies it believes future cameras will require, including a panoramic depth foundation model, panoramic image generation built on the Diffusion Transformer architecture, and a unified monocular 3DGS model that works with wide-angle, fisheye, and 360 cameras.

“These aren’t consumer features in a direct sense, but they matter because they help the camera understand space, anticipate scenes, and operate more intelligently across different imaging systems,” Liu says. “While we’re not at the stage of a fully autonomous cameraman yet, I do think our current products are early versions of that future. The future camera won’t just be a better lens with a better sensor — it will be a perception system with taste.”

Why Is an Autonomous Camera the Goal?

While some users would undoubtedly love a camera that does all the work for them, many longtime photographers may relish the manual aspects of the image-creation process. So why does Liu think it’s so important to create an autonomous camera system?

“Because the best camera is the one that disappears,” he says.

“For a long time, cameras have asked people to do two things at once: live the moment and operate the machine. That’s a bad tradeoff,” Liu tells PetaPixel. “If you’re thinking about framing, stabilization, settings, or whether you missed the shot, then part of your attention is already gone.

“Our belief is simple: people should experience the moment, and the camera should handle the mechanics of capture.

“That’s why this goal matters so much to us. We’re not trying to build a camera that asks more from the user — we’re trying to build one that asks less and does more. To me, the future of imaging is not just better image quality. Over time, the bigger breakthrough is less friction.

“The best technology doesn’t ask for your attention. It gives it back,” Liu concludes.

Image credits: Insta360