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Is Google's AI-Driven Image-Resizing Algorithm Dishonest? (thestack.com)

The Stack reports on Google's "new research into upscaling low-resolution images using machine learning to 'fill in' the missing details," arguing this is "a questionable stance...continuing to propagate the idea that images contain some kind of abstract 'DNA', and that there might be some reliable photographic equivalent of polymerase chain reaction which could find deeper truth in low-res images than either the money spent on the equipment or the age of the equipment will allow." An anonymous reader summarizes their report: Rapid and Accurate Image Super Resolution (RAISR) uses low and high resolution versions of photos in a standard image set to establish templated paths for upward scaling... This effectively uses historical logic, instead of pixel interpolation, to infer what the image would look like if it had been taken at a higher resolution.

It's notable that neither their initial paper nor the supplementary examples feature human faces. It could be argued that using AI-driven techniques to reconstruct images raises some questions about whether upscaled, machine-driven digital enhancements are a legal risk, compared to the far greater expense of upgrading low-res CCTV networks with the necessary resolution, bandwidth and storage to obtain good quality video evidence.

The article points out that "faith in the fidelity of these 'enhanced' images routinely convicts defendants."

4 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wait, what? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But they were guilty.

  2. I'm intelligent, gears are dumb. Intelligent==fail by raymorris · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > They are not intelligent and calling them that leads to an assumption of infallibility.

    That's an interesting comment. I'd think the opposite. I'm intelligent, and often wrong. Gears are dumb, and always perform multiplication correctly, never giving the wrong result. To me, intelligence implies the ability to come up with different answers, some of which may be wrong. If it can't come up with unexpected answers, it's just a dumb machine, I'd think.

  3. Re:Pretty much garbage for static images by yes-but-no · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can't get something from nothing.

    2, 4, 8, x, 32, 64. Can you guess x?

    It's not from nothing.. image captures nature; nature runs under physics; n physics under mathematical laws. So it is reasonable to guess what a missing pixel-block will be based on other sets of observations of similar situations.

  4. Re:Pretty much garbage for static images by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There are an infinite different functions that follows the pattern that generates different results for x.

    The problem when using it for forensics is that you will put the person following the pattern you implemented in jail, not the one that actually is guilty.