Restored ancient photograph, known as 'Monkey Christ,' now updated for the AI era by ChatGPT
In the digital age, artificial intelligence (AI) has made significant strides in various fields, including photo restoration. ChatGPT, an advanced AI model, has proven to be particularly effective in generating detailed and effective text prompts to guide photo restoration tools, helping users transform faded mid-20th century portraits and black-and-white wedding photos into visually restored images with a modern yet authentic feel. However, when faced with the challenge of restoring the world’s oldest photograph, the results were less than satisfactory.
Joseph Nicephore Niepce, a French inventor, captured the world's oldest photograph, "Niepce's View from the Window at Le Gras," in 1826. This historic image, which was created using heliography, a process invented by Niepce himself, has recently been attempted to be 'restored' and colorized by ChatGPT for a Reddit user.
While popular AI image restoration tools, like GFP-GAN, can leverage ChatGPT-generated prompts for better output, improving texture, contrast, and subtle colorization, maintaining historical accuracy if cross-checked, ChatGPT alone does not perform actual image processing. It only generates instructions or descriptions. When directly asked to colorize or restore the world’s oldest photo, ChatGPT failed spectacularly, as reported and evident in social media reactions.
The limitations of ChatGPT in handling extremely degraded and historically complex images without dedicated image restoration AI became apparent. For such unique historical images, specialized AI or human expert restoration remains necessary.
Despite these efforts, the 'restored' photograph has been compared to a scene from the video game Counter-Strike, drawing criticism for its inaccuracies. Critics point out that the photograph fails to depict the bright sunlight in the center of the image and misidentifies a tree as a tower. Additionally, the buildings in the 'restored' photograph do not match the architecture of the period.
While best photo editing software options, drawing tablets, and specific monitors designed for photo editing are available for those seeking to enhance their photographs, the world's oldest photograph remains a challenge for AI models like ChatGPT. The Spéos Paris Photographic Institute, which previously used computers to reconstruct and recreate Niépce's image for a short documentary 25 years ago, continues to be at the forefront of historical photograph restoration.
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