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.

[chapeau-noir]

That's pretty egregious. Could the seller be experimenting? There's really nothing in it for eBay to spend resources retconning sellers' photos. A seller can substitute photos at any time (though why in this case beats me), and a lot of people don't know much about AI.

[luckythewinner]

Is ebay secretly experimenting with AI with a small subgroup of sellers without their knowledge 

How in the world would it benefit eBay to alter a photo and misrepresent a seller's item?

IMHO it is far more likely that the seller is experimenting.

[tarotfindsandmore]

David Foster Wallace had no idea how accurate his Infinite Jest would turn out to be...

This stuff is going to backfire horribly.

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Whether it's ebay or the seller, why on earth would they do that anyway? It basically makes the photo less than worthless.

[chapeau-noir]

I'd be tempted to ask the seller.

[simba6]

That is strange.  Just what that is supposed to be doing?   There are better ways to fix a dark photo.    I have noticed when AI describes listings sold for parts only it often implies the item works.  

[brandonsvsu]

After doing some further looking into this, I think it is in ebay's upscaling algorithm for the main 1600x1200 resolution photo.  If you upload something less than 1200px wide, it upscales it, but applies that fakey looking AI to the image, including unnatural sharpening.

And we can compare apples to apples here since ebay stores multiple sizes of the same image on its servers.  Here is a comparison of the s-l800.jpg and s-l1600.jpg from a different, less egregious example I found.  
Notice the fake, smeary sharpening to the upscaled image on the right?  Presumably the first example I posted had an original photo even smaller and so the upscaling was more extreme.

[0426sheila]

I agree. I now have a photo light box (a Christmas gift). I list when I can, which is usually in the evening, and struggled with dark pictures. I also have old eyes. This new button that takes away everything but the item is horrible! Every time I try it the photo is ugly. Reminds me of 1950s outer space shows--with a lame rocket jiggling through space.

[tools*]

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@brandonsvsu wrote:

After doing some further looking into this, I think it is in ebay's upscaling algorithm for the main 1600x1200 resolution photo.  If you upload something less than 1200px wide, it upscales it, but applies that fakey looking AI to the image, including unnatural sharpening.

And we can compare apples to apples here since ebay stores multiple sizes of the same image on its servers.  Here is a comparison of the s-l800.jpg and s-l1600.jpg from a different, less egregious example I found.  
Notice the fake, smeary sharpening to the upscaled image on the right?  Presumably the first example I posted had an original photo even smaller and so the upscaling was more extreme.

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When you apply sharpening to an out-of-focus image using maximum settings in some applications, the result can be what you're seeing on the right. This kind of filter isn't what I would consider AI, just extreme over-sharpening.

[tools*]

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@brandonsvsu wrote:

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.

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These are two entirely different photographs of the same ancient sound card. The top image is fairly low-resolution with JPEG artifacts from a lot of compression, and the bottom image shows extreme over-sharpening to the point where it looks more like a painting.

Again, not AI, just a filter.

[itsjustasprain]

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@tools* wrote:

Again, not AI, just a filter.

Very true. This is an image compression issue - nothing to do with AI (which seems to be found lurking behind every problem these days). You cannot make a sharply detailed image out of a compressed one. The best you can do is decide on a per-pixel basis what color hue and shade you want to assign based on its neighbors.

That processing ability has been around for decades and there is nothing there that AI could particularly improve on. If you have a fuzzy low-res image to start with then the best you can get out of that is a sharp low-res image. That is - you can sharpen the edges of color transitions from one shade to another but you cannot bring in detail that is not there.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

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@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:

Whether it's ebay or the seller, why on earth would they do that anyway? It basically makes the photo less than worthless.

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A seller might do that if the same product had revisions using different chips and they were selling anything which the manufacturer identified as that product. There are products which have gone through multiple revisions during the years and most end users just want the product. A small number of buyers want a specific revision and the seller is not interested in the extra work required to cater to those buyers.

If the seller is still selling on the same listing page for 2 1/2 years and this is a popular product and used, there are probably multiple revisions.

Buyers who are too smart often motivate sellers to take protective actions to avoid problem sales.

[brandonsvsu]

No way this is just image filtering.  I found the most egregious example yet.  This particular listing only has 1 single photo.  Here is the thumbnail in the storefront for this item (left) vs the lone listing image (right).  Something BAD is going on here in this upscaling, and it isn't just filtering because the thumbnail image looks perfectly fine.

[itsjustasprain]

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@brandonsvsu wrote:

Something BAD is going on here in this upscaling, and it isn't just filtering because the thumbnail image looks perfectly fine.

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The thumbnail image (left) does not appear to be in focus for starters. The right-hand image looks like an attempt at boosting the contrast but a blurry source image is just going to look even stranger in output.