Is restoring and colorizing old films with Artificial Intelligence acceptable to historians?

The large majority of the viewers of this Youtube channel (greatly) appreciate the results of meticulously and skillfully restoring old film footage. Especially A.I. colorization is found to be of significant added value because viewers can then get a better idea of what life was about a century ago and also come to realize that life never was in Black & White. From an entertainment and even an educational perspective this enhancement work significantly adds to viewer appreciation, which is also reflected in the circa 98.5% appreciation score of this Youtube channel (measured on the basis of “Likes“ versus “Dislikes“). However, some historians are (very) critical about the restoration of old film footage by means of the use of modern Artificial Intelligence software. Some renowned (online) film archives even refuse to touch old film. They would rather retain wobbly, blurry, faint, unsharp digital scans in their archives than even make the smallest attempt to realize some improvement in quality to please viewers who love to watch historic topics. Historians claim that A.I. restoration negatively effects the historic value of old films or even destroys it. In this documentary we look at the many aspects of film restoration and try to seperate the wheat from the chaff. Not all software enhancements are destructive by nature. Some in fact even bring out visual information that is hidden within the dark or over-exposed of many films. We try to identify the ethical boundaries of A.I. film restoration by providing insight in its possibilities and its limits. Without revealing the outcome of our analyses, it can be stated here that the matter is far more complex than a simple rejection or acceptance of video A.I. enhancement and/or colorization. In this film we refer to a very interesting Eye Films symposium about “restauration versus re-appropriation“ which can be viewed here: The “Two Minute Papers“ referred to is here: Watching both channels is highly recommended! PS: If you don’t like technical and/or analytical stuff then please do not watch this video. No need to click on the thumbs-down button. Just skip this upload and come back next time to view more historic footage. Thank you very much! If you want to know more about the latest video colorization techniques then watch this video on my other channel: