Apple’s SHARP AI: 3D Worlds from a Single Photo in 1 Second
Tech News, December 22, 2025: Apple has unveiled the SHARP AI model, transforming a single 2D photo into a photorealistic 3D scene in under one second. This breakthrough enables Star Trek holodeck-like immersive VR experiences, poised to revolutionize Vision Pro headsets and iOS spatial photos. Detailed in the December 17, 2025, research paper “Sharp Monocular View Synthesis in Less Than a Second,” SHARP regresses 3D Gaussian parameters using a neural network.
How SHARP Works
SHARP operates via a single forward pass on a standard GPU, preserving scale, depth, and consistency without warping. Trained on 8 million synthetic images and 2.65 million licensed real photos, it delivers real-time rendering. Open-source code on GitHub empowers developers for instant 3D content creation.
Key Features
- Real-Time Speed: 3D generation in less than 1 second.
- Training Data: 8M synthetic + 2.65M real images.
- Output: Photorealistic, scale-aware 3D scenes for VR.
- Access: GitHub open-source, potential Vision Pro integration.
Impact and Applications
SHARP democratizes VR/AR content creation, letting users build holodeck-style virtual tours from personal photos. It could upgrade iOS spatial photos, transforming social media, gaming, and immersive storytelling.
