
On the left is a more than century-old drawing of Grandma Rydberg. On the right is the photo version as interpreted by Adobe Firefly A.I.
The A.I. version doesn’t replace the old drawing for me, but it does give a really good idea of how Grandma looked when she sat for the artist. Printing it up and displaying it would be of great value, in my opinion, since we don’t have that many portrait photos of her when she was younger.
If used correctly, A.I. can fix, enhance, and even improve an old photo, but if not used correctly, like anything, the results can be detrimental. In this sort of use, it is just another kind of Photoshop, which has A.I. tools of its own.
I have a favorite 1996 Nintendo game, “Metroid”, and have played different versions that have been altered by people; one is extremely well done, having logically added and enhanced things that should have been accomplished on the original game. Another one was an example of someone who got access to the editing tools and went nuts, creating a frustrating version of the game that is almost unplayable.
I look at A.I. and Photoshop in regard to graphics in the same way; used correctly, it can be amazing and useful; used incorrectly… and horrible things can happen.