It's a kind of magic

 I was up early to greet Ellie when she was dropped off. Zoe asked if we had a plaster to put on her heel, and it was while she was applying the plaster that she realised she had a rip right across her work trousers. It might have been 06:40, but she had to go back home and change.

Following the usual morning rituals, we got Ellie ready for school. It was a strange day in that Ellie was to be collected at lunchtime.... but more about that in a minute.

I went for my usual walk and was pleased that the latest AudioBook is finally clicking into gear. Its storyline is a little uncomfortable, but it shows promise. I arrived back home after about an hour and settled down for breakfast. 

While reading the social media feeds overnight, I was interested that one was pushing an Artificial Intelligence app to enhance old photos. I looked at the details. It was certainly comprehensive, but I wasn't convinced I needed an app. Wouldn't an AI engine be able to enhance old photos without an app? 

I selected a photo of Mum from back in the 1950s. I then asked ChatGPT, CoPilot, and Gemini if they could restore and enhance old photos. Each AI engine agreed that it could.

I uploaded this photo to ChatGPT and asked it to "restore and enhance" the image.

I waited. It was busy, but promised to get back to me.

After a few minutes, this was the image it had produced. I was stunned. I sent a copy to Jane (my sister). She was stunned. This was truly a kind of magic.

I tried several other photos over the next hour... a wedding photo (Mum and Dad) and a photo of Bert, Diane's dad. They were less successful and not really worthy of keeping, but this one of Mum was enough to convince me of the abilities of AI photo manipulation.

At lunchtime, we collected Ellie from school. We had to take her to a local Academy where her school, Bartons, would compete against 8 other schools in athletics. We dropped her off and wished her luck, promising to return and collect her at 15:00. We headed home for lunch and 30 minutes or so of quiet time before we had to return.

Ellie had done fairly well, finishing 4th in the 50m and 4th or 5th in the 400m. The school, however, had come last in the overall meet. We were very proud of her efforts and the fact that she managed these races despite the 26 °C heat. We brought her home, and then Diane took her to the school's summer fair, before returning just in time for Pete to come and collect her for the weekend.

(I'm still gobsmacked by the AI picture of Mum)