Literally every week, another AI tool is released. This time, there’s one to colourise old black and white photos.
I scan a great many areas of the internet every week for new technology trends, inventions, breakthroughs or product releases. Since August this year, there has a been a snowballing feedback loop of AI tools related to vision, images, generated pictures, and now even movies.
I was talking about this with some of my staff and they said I should write about it, so that all our schools and business customers know about it. So, with that in mind, the first tool I wanted to show you is one which colourises black and white photos.
Palette takes an uploaded image and paints it for you. You can change the palette used, just like an Instagram filter. Like most of these tools, they are free for now. There’s no telling if they are just gaining traction and will start charging in the future, so use them now.
I had to test this out. And not just with an old photo, but I wanted to see what it would do with an old photo that was synthetic to start with. Would it work the same? Enter the game “Red Dead Redemption 2”. It’s a game set in the late 1800s with hyper-real graphics. Additionally, and for my purposes, it has B&W cut scenes of the models and landscapes in the game.
Uploading them, and running them through the palettes, I got the following results.
It might seem like there’s limited business or teaching utility for this tool, but this is just the start. What I’m trying to show, here, is how the base engines are mature enough to apply to human needs.
In short, we have a tool, looking for its real-life application. Whoever gets there first will win the “first mover” advantage in the market.
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