AI eye contact correction vs real eye contact
There are two ways to look at the camera while you read. AI correction changes the image of your eyes so they appear to look at the lens. Reading near the lens keeps the text so close to the camera that your real gaze stays near it. They solve the same problem at different points, and they can be combined.
How AI eye contact correction works
A model estimates where your eyes are looking and redraws them so they point at the camera. Some tools do it live, during a call; others do it after recording, as an edit. What these makers say about their own tools:
| Tool | When | What it needs | What the maker says about its limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple FaceTime, Eye Contact setting | Live, in FaceTime calls | A supported iPhone or iPad; Settings, FaceTime, Eye Contact | Apple describes it as establishing natural eye contact in FaceTime calls. |
| NVIDIA Broadcast, Eye Contact | Live, as a virtual camera for calls and streams | An NVIDIA RTX GPU; announced in beta in January 2023 | Keeps your eye colour and blinks, and switches back to your real eyes when you look too far away. |
| Windows Studio Effects, Eye contact | Live, at the camera level on supported Windows PCs | A PC with an NPU; the stronger Teleprompter mode needs a Snapdragon Copilot+ PC | Standard mode is a subtle correction; Teleprompter mode is made for people reading text on screen. |
| Descript, Eye Contact effect | After recording, as an edit | An internet connection while it processes, and AI credits | Keep your eye line close to the camera, because large offsets will not be corrected; needs one clear face in frame. |
Sources: Apple iPhone User Guide, NVIDIA Broadcast 1.4 announcement, Microsoft Support: Windows Studio Effects, Descript Help Center: Eye Contact.
How reading near the lens works
Instead of changing the picture, you change where the words are. The closer the line you are reading sits to the camera, the smaller the angle between your gaze and the lens, and the less a viewer sees you look away. A beam-splitter teleprompter does this optically. A software teleprompter does it by keeping the text in a narrow band right under the camera, as EyePrompt does on iPhone, iPad and Mac.
The differences that matter
| AI correction | Reading near the lens | |
|---|---|---|
| What is in the final video | Your eyes as the model redrew them | Your real eyes, unedited |
| When it acts | During a call, or after recording | While you speak |
| Hardware or service | A supported device, GPU or NPU, or a cloud service | The camera and screen you already have |
| Large glances away | Usually left uncorrected, by design | Avoided, because the text is at the lens |
| Where it applies | In the app, or on the device, that runs the effect | In any app, with any camera you read near |
Can you use both?
Yes, and the makers' own advice points that way: correction works best when your eyes are already close to the camera. Reading from a band under the lens keeps the remaining offset small, which is the situation these tools handle best.
What EyePrompt does and does not do
EyePrompt never edits, repaints or redirects your eyes. It keeps your gaze near the lens while you record, then measures it. After each front-camera take on iPhone or iPad, the Eye Contact Score shows how much of the take your eyes stayed near the lens, and when you looked away. How EyePrompt works
Questions people ask
Does EyePrompt use AI to fix my eyes?
No. EyePrompt never edits, repaints or redirects your eyes. It keeps the script right under the camera so your real gaze stays near the lens, and the Eye Contact Score then shows when you looked away.
Is AI eye contact correction bad?
Not as such. It is a useful tool for calls and edits. It changes the image of your eyes, needs supported hardware or a service, and by its makers' own account works best when your eyes are already close to the camera.
Which is better for recording a script, AI correction or a teleprompter at the lens?
They solve the problem at different points. A teleprompter at the lens keeps your real eyes near the camera while you record, with no processing. AI correction changes the image afterwards or live. Reading near the lens also gives AI correction the small offsets it handles best, so the two can be combined.