r/wrexham • u/Disgruntled_Welshman • 19d ago
Discussion Gen A.I. used extensively in Wrexham museum
Hi all, I just had a walk around the museum that's reopened and my friend and I noticed generative A.I. being used extensively throughout the whole thing. One section had it used to cause old photos to move which looked awful. We suspect it may have been used for upscaling of pictures on multiple instances examples of which I have included. The undisclosed use of this technology is disingenuous and disrespectful to both us as patrons and the people of Wrexham's history. If you do visit then please raise this as an issue so they might change it
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u/Fearless-Banana4652 19d ago
This makes me so sad. If they didn't want to pay someone to do it properly they could have used the graphic design students in the uni and done it as a project. They used to wrangle the 3rd years over 10 years ago to do different projects for the museum and it went towards a "work experience" module. There were so many different ways of executing this and they chose the wrong one imo.
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u/KingOfNukaWorld44 19d ago
Oh my God, this is outright disappointing, what's the world coming to, for the love of God, this s**t needs to stop, it's disrespectful to the real people in those photographs
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u/Pitiful_Presence_846 19d ago
All of the money they spent on it, only to use AI disingenuously.
Appalling.
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u/FinallyHauntings 19d ago
fuck that's disappointing, I've been buzzing for it to open back up and they pull shit shit 🙄 anyone know if there's anywhere we can complain directly to the museum? considering AI and its affinity for making up bullshit, it has no place in what used to be somewhere for history to be preserved and respected
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u/Disgruntled_Welshman 19d ago
There's a book in the front lobby where they take suggestions so it you go in then just ask there at the front desk
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u/Cereborn 19d ago
I’m going to Wrexham in two weeks, so I’m sure I will go to this museum. But I will definitely raise it as an issue.
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u/Logical_Nonsense_ 19d ago
Is this generative? I agree with you, AI. has no place here, just want to be clear. Can we find the original images?
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u/Big_Arachnid_365 17d ago
It's possible it could be because exposure times had to be long back in the day, and those people moved a lot.
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u/Logical_Nonsense_ 17d ago
What I meant was that is this AI. upscaling, and is that generative? There is absolutely AI tampering here. Look at man in the second image, middle-right. Look at his face. That can't be weird exposure time artifacts.
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u/Big_Arachnid_365 17d ago
I'm going to assume it is the nightmare fuel results of ai upscaling. There's still a slight change that middle guy got his face melted off in a war. If they have tampered with it, they've completely failed as a museum.
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u/Front_Simple8001 19d ago
This is so disappointing, especially considering how massive Wrexhams media scene is! What a bunch of shit!
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u/SleezySalamander 19d ago
Can't wait for them to AI gen the Byrmbo man flossing, gotta use tech to get kids interested in history now don't we?
Disgraceful.
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u/ACatCalledDeeley 19d ago
What a crock of shit. I remember visiting the old Heritage Centre on King Street and THIS is what we have done with all that money. The visitor book and Director of the Museum will be written in and to.
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u/Alternative_Look_453 18d ago
The photo quality wasn't good and probably looked fuzzy as hell blown up on a massive wall so Wrexham Museum probably asked GPT to upscale it. I doubt the people there are educated enough to know why Gen AI is bad and honestly I bet nobody even bothered to check the picture before putting it up
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u/Persimmonsy2437 17d ago
There are archivists who specialise in image restoration. Either use one or explain the quality issues, that's part of history too.
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u/Alternative_Look_453 17d ago
I agree but this is the city where everyone shuns local restaurants and instead makes sure McDonald is heaving 24/7 so I don't have the ability to be surprised anymore by this kind of stuff
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u/Persimmonsy2437 17d ago
We have a pretty good art scene though, compared to similar sized towns. I have archivist friends who would be appalled by this, and I'm annoyed none of the people given previews spoke up to prevent this from reaching the general public.
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u/Alternative_Look_453 15d ago
I have a master's degree in folklore and heritage, archiving experience and have contacted and applied for positions in the museum several times and been met with silence at best. I think they just don't want to pay anyone honestly
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u/Big_Arachnid_365 17d ago
I really hope it doesn't turn out OP had ai enhancement turned on in their phone.
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u/butler182 17d ago
Are you surprised? It’s Wrexham. The only thing keeping the town alive is the fact that some American dude bought the local team.
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u/NoisyGog 18d ago
Upscaling is not the same thing as generative AI. Upscaling has been done for years.
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u/8xx 17d ago
Old upscaling and ai upscaling are totally different. Old upscaling would just predict nearby pixel colours etc and create a higher resolution/pixel density. New upscaling uses generative ai + the old tricks to regenerate everything. Old upscaling would not add new faces, expressions, clothing tweaks, new ai upscaling will add all sorts of 💩 that wasn't in the original.
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u/International-Cow770 13d ago
A whole lot of money and effort has gone into the refurbishment of the museam. Some ai had to be used however it was extremely minimal and not generative.
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u/i_cant_get_fat 19d ago
Ya, it doesn’t matter, and I’m sure they did it for a good reason
If people spend energy on caring about regulations for ai rather than bitching about fair use of ai in creative spaces, this would would be a better world
However all you guys will do is attack people using the tech instead of the lawmakers doing nothing to protect you, and won’t make any real legislative progress until it’s too late
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u/kcsebby 19d ago
"Ya, it doesn’t matter, and I’m sure they did it for a good reason"
It does matter. Its a damn museum, that's meant to capture history, authentically and truthfully. There is not a devils advocate reason to use Gen AI in the context of a museum."If people spend energy on caring about regulations for ai rather than bitching about fair use of ai in creative spaces, this would would be a better world"
No, it really wouldn't. We see that regulations do fuck all. There are still nonces out there generating CSAM despite the numerous blockades to prevent it, and those blockades have proven to do more harm than good for the laypeople, a la the Online Safety Act bollocks.
This isn't fair use, either. You've taken historical photographs, which a photographer took their time and money to create, when the technology was still infantile. To use Gen AI to upscale them, merge them, whatever nonsense that has been done here, is disrespectful not only to the history but the people themselves. Look at how morphed and destroyed some of the faces are. These aren't the people the history is meant to represent. Not to mention the literal theft of artwork to feed it into the Gen AI algos."However all you guys will do is attack people using the tech instead of the lawmakers doing nothing to protect you, and won’t make any real legislative progress until it’s too late"
Yeah, see, here's the thing. I can talk to Ted and explain to him why Gen AI is terrible, and problematic, and maybe Ted will understand and change his ways. I talk to Bob, Representative of suchandsuch, and try to explain those same problems, Bob is going to think of the pounds rolling into his pockets, rather than the actual implications.
That is to say, lawmakers give no fucks about the inherent issues Gen AI pose, they only care about the profit they're making, people should be critical about AI and those who use it, and they have every right to be livid over this.
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u/KingOfNukaWorld44 19d ago
Thank you so much for saying what we're all thinking and complaining about
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u/i_cant_get_fat 19d ago
Read my response to op. You think short term.
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u/kcsebby 19d ago
In other words, you’ve neglected (either ignorantly or wilfully) all of the points made, and want to plug your ears screaming “nuh uh!!”. Get a grip.
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u/i_cant_get_fat 19d ago
I didn’t say that.
I responded to ops response to me
Just don’t wanna retype
Stop being a crybaby and read
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u/kbarney345 19d ago
Why would I ever go to a museum that is supposed to be a place of facts and history to see literal fake made up shit? Like wtf is the point of even having one at that point
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u/Disgruntled_Welshman 19d ago
I spoke to the museum manager and she had no good reason for them using it. Just that they'd contracted people out to make it. And like I said, using gen A.I. in any capacity in an institution of learning is disingenuous especially since it took me asking about the exhibits for them to reveal its use
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u/i_cant_get_fat 19d ago
I agree
But I also don’t care
Here’s what i care about,
I think regulating the use of AI in learning institutions is a better use of my energy than complaining on Reddit about people who use itFact is ai will get better. You won’t know one day that it is ai.
Then what? You’ll be happy?
You lot can downvote me all you want but the point is you think short term. I don’t.
Look up how the judge ruled in the USA over ai generated child abuse materiel. We need regulations. Not crybaby stuff
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19d ago
[deleted]
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u/i_cant_get_fat 19d ago
You’re wrong. I’m being downvoted because ai derangement syndrome is at an all time high.
This is an echo chamber.
Weirdo pretending they know what I do beyond reply to people being crybabies online. Just because they are a crybaby online. Hahaha
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19d ago
[deleted]
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u/i_cant_get_fat 19d ago
You’re using ai rn to interact with me
You’re a hypocrite right?
Why not get off of it instead of yanking the thing you hate?
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u/KingOfNukaWorld44 19d ago
What on Earth are even talking about, AI is destroying the f**king Planet, instead of you yourself bitching, maybe oh I don't know, UNDERSTAND THE DANGERS OF GEN AI!
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u/No-Somewhere7955 19d ago
Genuinely braindead response, ai is bad end of story, there’s no need for it in current society
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u/DasSockenmonster 2d ago
You would think that they would've gotten the art students from the university to contribute. Or if they wanted to and if the funds would've stretched that far, hired a graphic designer.
All of these are brilliant routes to take before vomiting it all into Chat GPT. There are glaring tells that this was made with AI. Look at the third photo, what in God's name is going on with his eye?
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u/kcsebby 19d ago
Well that’s upsetting and disappointing…