Lately I’ve seen many vintage photographs being shared online that were colorized and sharpened by artificial intelligence services. Some are impressed by the results, yet too often oblivious to the many inaccuracies being introduced. The guesses by the AI often go far beyond coloration to hallucinate text, architectural features, and more.
The sad and inevitable result is a worsening pollution of history with false information. As AI feeds on its own output, the introduced hallucinations could become entrenched, being repeatedly misreported and misrepresented as factual. I’ll illustrate my concern with a recent social media post with undoctored and AI versions of a photograph of downtown Oklahoma City from the mid-1960s.
In the original photograph, at far left through the scaffolding you can see the top of the 1927 Southwestern Bell building, readily distinguished by four microwave horns which were built atop it in 1952 to link with Kansas City and Dallas. Beside it the adjacent Dial Building was under construction, which would soon be filled with massive electromechanical switching equipment, and that is how I know the photograph is from 1964 or 1965.
The 1931 Ramsey Tower and First National Bank are in the center, with the Ramsey topped by a large illuminated sign for Liberty Bank atop it. To the right is the OG&E building, topped with a large illuminated sign that showed OG&E on the side facing the camera and on the reverse had OG&E and below that it read “live better” and “electricity”. Farther right was the Biltmore Hotel with its own illuminated sign up top.
I appreciate someone sharing that on Facebook. However, they posted alongside it a version that had been colorized and sharpened using AI. At first glance, some might think that was an improvement. However, as a native of Oklahoma City, I immediately noticed multiple glaring errors.
Most, but not all of the Ramsey Tower’s masonry walls had been changed into dark glass curtain walls. The red cursive Liberty sign had become some sort of antenna gobbledegook. The First National Bank’s sloping roof with its large skylights and distinctive beacon had been entirely replaced with hallucinated versions, while the masonry walls had the wrong color and the vertical aluminum spandrels between its floors of windows had become masonry.
Even more noticeable was what the AI did to the OG&E building, changing its sign to advertise GEBO VITAMILK while Hotel Biltmore became CITY scribble.
As for the Bell building at the far left, its microwave horns were misinterpreted as steel members being erected by a rooftop crane.
I realize that people are going to continue to pollute social media and other online sources with countless doctored photographs that misrepresent our past. However, I urge you to extend your skepticism of online content to account for this expanding and pernicious AI slop.
