AI Fails Spectacularly Restoring Oldest Known Photo

Credit: Joseph Nicephore Niepce

AI Tackles Worlds Oldest Photo With Startling Results

We might have a new contender for the list of infamous art restoration failures. This time, however, the culprit isn't an overzealous amateur, but Artificial Intelligence.

A ChatGPT user prompted OpenAI's chatbot to restore and colorize the world's oldest photograph. Observers quickly noted that the outcome likely bears little resemblance to the actual scene Joseph Nicephore Niepce witnessed from his estate in Saint Loup de Varennes.

The Story Behind Historys First Photograph

Niepce's View from the Window at Le Gras is widely considered the oldest surviving photograph taken with a camera obscura. The French inventor captured this image in 1826 using heliography, a process he developed that used bitumen to record the image.

The original exposure is thought to have taken anywhere from eight hours to several days. Nearly two centuries later, ChatGPT took mere seconds to 'restore' the photo for a Reddit user, but it clearly took significant creative liberties.

Experts Decry AIs Historical Inaccuracies

One person who has seen the original image at the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin commented, "Totally inaccurate rendering — and that is not surprising." They pointed out that the AI model missed the bright sunlight in the center of the image and mistook a tall tree in the background for a tower. Others noted that the depicted buildings do not look accurate for the location or the historical period.

From Flawed Restorations to Internet Meme

Soon, other ChatGPT users began experimenting, trying to achieve better results. Some even used web searches to feed the AI historical data for more accurate period details. However, these attempts also failed to convince many, with some likening the results to a scene from the Italy map in the video game Counter-Strike. Consequently, the world's oldest photo is rapidly becoming an internet meme.

Understanding AIs Limitations With Scarce Data

AI photo restoration tools can perform reasonably well at cleaning up old photographs. They employ deep learning models trained to recognize and remove damage such as scratches and tears, while also sharpening the image. However, a significant problem exists with many generative AI tools, and it's not limited to image processing.

As anyone who has recently used Google search might have observed, when AI lacks information, it tends to fabricate answers. Niepce's heliograph, being so unclear, provides very little data for an AI to work with accurately.

A Look Back Pre AI Digital Reconstruction Efforts

Interestingly, The Speos Paris Photographic Institute had already used computers to meticulously reconstruct and then recreate Niepce's image for a short documentary 25 years ago, long before ChatGPT emerged.

Photography Resources and Tools

For your own photographic endeavors, you might be interested in our selections for the best photo editing software and the best monitors for photo editing. You could also check out a personal take on using a drawing tablet for photo editing tasks.