I’ve been fascinated this last year by the growing ability of AI technology and admit I use this for numerous applications to make life easier and more efficient. This has also crept into Blantyre Project in the previous year. When it comes to periods of history for example, such as the 1890’s where I don’t have many photos, it’s been great to be able to produce suitable illustrations.
I’m always clear however, in marking up when illustrations are AI or if a real photo is being used.
It’s increasingly becoming easier to recreate places and scenes with some degree of accuracy, like this image for example of the early 1960s at Priestfield Street, High Blantyre looking over to former Dixon’s Colliery 1. I can even animate such upscaled, colourised images.
Don’t worry, I know this isn’t for everybody and I’m NOT going to flood Blantyre Project with AI daily posts. There will ALWAYS be real photographs in far greater number here to illustrate articles and of course, I’m always on the search for auld Blantyre photos of people and places I’ve not seen before….. to add to the 17,000 or so photos already in this archive.
As for AI, I see a time when it’ll be part of life for most people. We’re already seeing that in smartwatches, Alexa enabled devices and chat models on and offline. It’s become easy to manipulate images and the boundaries of what is real and isn’t need to be better defined. If I’m honest, it not only fascinates me, but is a little scary too, if only for how it may affect the reporting of real news and impact on jobs and careers.