Since I saw for the first time Return to the future As a child, I wanted to go back in time. Whether to relive the 90s as an adult instead of a child, or have an overview of the riding years, I have always been fascinated in the past.
As an enormous lover of cinema, so far, I would revive previous decades through the eyes of some of the best directors in the world. If this returned in the summer of 1922 with The Grand Gatsby or relive Manhattan from the 1980s with When Harry met SallyThere is a film for almost any time in history.
Now thank you Cat And the generation of AI images, there is another way to obtain an instantaneous of the past, and although it is very superficial, the trend is to resume steam on social networks.
I decided to try the IA reviving machine and returned to 1955, just like my good friend Marty McFly. Here’s what I learned.
The 1950s booming
Get Cat To generate old images, you will have to choose a decade or a year and ask: “Can you show me an image of what it was to live in X?” For this example, I chose 1955, just like the first Return to the future movie.
Initially, Chatgpt generated an image of a stereotypical white family with two children, a girl and a boy. There was a black and white TV in the background, which is historically exact, but it is hardly an intriguing image.
The best way to get the most out of the Machine time machine is to start a conversation, to opt for an initial period in history, then to ask for tracking prompts.
I followed my initial prompt with “I love going to the movies, what would this experience have been?” Chatgpt knew that I was still talking about 1955 and offered me an image from the outside of a cinema. The calm man, With John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara.
I didn’t know The calm manSo I did a quick search to learn that the film made its first screening in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1955. Spot on, Chatgpt.
I continued my conversation, wanting to know what fast food looked like in the 1950s. I knew that McDonald’s had been invented before 1950, but I did not know what its restaurants looked like.
“What did a fast food burger restaurant look like?” I asked which Chatppt gave me a shocking and precise image of a McDonald’s from the 1950s, including the half golden arc which was used at the time.
Impressed by precision, I followed, “What about a shopping center?”, Chatgpt imagined an interior shopping district with a store called Penneys.
I had never heard of Penneys, but again, after some quick research, it turns out that it is an Irish store in Dublin who is called Primark in the United Kingdom and JCPENNEY in the United States.
By thinking back to the cinema, I achieved, for any reason, Chatgpt drew information from Ireland and Northern Ireland. I decided to call him.
“Why do you continue to imagine life in Ireland?” I asked, what AA replied: “Super take – it seems to be some of these imaginary details (like” Penneys “instead of” JCPENNEY “) lean more Irish than American, which is a small fun mixture on my part.
I decided that my prompts were too vague, and I should give a little more help to Chatgpt when it comes to imagining the 1955 that I dreamed of.
New York, New York
I love New York, in particular all types of cinema in the big Apple. I decided to tell Chatgpt that I wanted to see “what it was to live in 1955 in New York”. Forced.
The animated streets of New York seemed quite retro, even if I do not really know what I think of the strange faces of the New Yorkers taken in the context.
I followed by asking for an overview of Katz’s Diner, the iconic diner NYC famous for his incredible pastrami sandwiches and this famous scene where Meg Ryan, you know … makes a lot of noise.
Picture 1 of 2
I went to Katz last year, and the image generated by Chatgpt was roughly what I expected what he would have looked at in the 1950s. Curiously, even today, I have the impression of climbing a foot in the past, so I would not call for the ability to recreate the impressive decor.
After my pastrami, I went on the fifth avenue, in front of the Plaza Hotel, and I finished my 1950s trip to New York in Central Park. All the images generated by Chatgpt, although clearly produced by AI, were realistic enough to reach the goal of giving me an snapshot in American life in the 1950s.
This tendency of AI is that which I definitely see the attraction, although I think I prefer to relive the past through the cinema, instead of static images generated by the procedure.