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Tuesday, April 13, 2021
CONTINUITY: (Badly) Colouring the Past: Colourisation AIs vs. Reality
Colorization APIs are becoming widespread; AI-colorized historical photos are circulated without caveat. But is AI colorization providing an accurate image of the past? To find out, I digitally desaturated these color photos by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky, taken between 1909 and 1915. pic.twitter.com/YzJO2b0aza
— Gwen C. Katz (@gwenckatz) April 12, 2021
And here are the original color photos. pic.twitter.com/SN3wcOclSt
— Gwen C. Katz (@gwenckatz) April 12, 2021
We can't let AIs that propagate our own biases define our image of the past. Colorization should be left to human experts who can use context to pick accurate colors. Look to primary sources, such as paintings, to see the real colors of the past. Because it wasn't all mud. pic.twitter.com/CiTp3TAZCE
— Gwen C. Katz (@gwenckatz) April 12, 2021
Here is the complete thread, with additional examples.
Posted at April 13, 2021 09:40