I've suddenly started seeing AI-manipulated photos (and not just the backgrounds)

[brandonsvsu]

I buy a lot of computer parts, so I search for a lot of computer parts.  And I know exactly what they're supposed to look like - because often I have to zoom in to read things like the info on a chip.  All of a sudden in the past few days, I've started noticing listings where the primary photo has obviously been AI-modified.  And it is plainly obvious because of the text on circuit boards and AI's inability to properly draw resistors.  Here is one of the most obnoxious examples I've seen yet with a photo of what the card is SUPPOSED to look like first, and below it an ebay photo of the same sound card.

Now what is fascinating about this is that the AI-modded photo comes from a listing that is about 2 and a half years old - it has been in my watch list for the better part of 2 years, so the AI-modification is something applied to the photo post-processing and after it had already been listed.  So it isn't like this is something that the seller originally did to the photo.

Any idea what is going on here?  This isn't the only example, btw.  Is ebay secretly experimenting with AI with a small subgroup of sellers without their knowledge (you know, like they like to do all the time when testing new features)?  This particular seller, I've looked through is other listings, and notice that on a few other listings (but nowhere near all of them, so it is not like is is an account-wide setting), this is being done as well, but only in the first photo.  And again, these are listings that have been active for several years.

[brandonsvsu]

Here are the direct image links for the same size image:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/gRMAAOxymiVQ~bYc/s-l500.webp
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/PdkAAOSwApZni5Y~/s-l500.jpg

Compare those two.  I'm not crazy.  Something very wrong here.

[simba6]

It almost looks cartoon like.   Trying to blot out details so the photos can't be used for reverse engineering?

[a_c_green]

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@simba6 wrote:

It almost looks cartoon like.   Trying to blot out details so the photos can't be used for reverse engineering?

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No, what's showing are the artifacts that will start to appear when a poor-quality source image goes through one or more attempts at enhancement (or simply editing to improve the appearance, correct the orientation, etc.). It's possible to apply algorithms to brighten the color or the lighting, or rotate the image by remapping it to a different angle, for example, but if the original was fuzzy, such as the thumbnail image seen in this thread, then you are not going to be able to pull up detail that was not there to begin with.

All it can do is flatten or sharpen the borders, boundaries and color transitions that can be found in the original image. Every further processing pass on it will simply make it more blocky and less detailed.

The fix for this situation would have been to shoot the source image in proper focus and better lighting. (The more light you can get on your subject, the smaller the lens opening that's required for a good exposure, which in turns gives a better depth of field where it's all in focus from front to back.)

I use a tripod and 2-second timer for my photos, and that way the camera is rock-steady when it actually takes the photo, because I can press the shutter button and let go of it before the timer reaches zero.

[simba6]

I have some early photo edit software and some current.  I have never has it do anything close to that even with poor photos.   Never used AI however.  I did try to nudeifiy a photo of an ear of corn.  Just gave an error and said it could not do it.

[chapeau-noir · Accepted solution]

Extreme sharpening isn't going to change the original lettering to that strange block gibberish, though. That's typical AI slop (I'm always fiddling with imaging software).

[brandonsvsu]

THANK YOU.  I'm glad I'm not the only one who knows "AI slop" when I see it.

I think ebay owes us some transparency on this matter.  Especially if this is one of the new "enhanced tools" ebay is referring to in their 2025 seller newsletter justifying their fee increases.