Who did it?

Roberto Saracco February 20, 2016 Blog 144 Views

OK, this may be just for fun, but it is Saturday, right?
I run into a test where you have to guess between two images which one was painted by a human being and which is the one painted by a computer.
You have to try for yourself, there is a series of image pairs and you just have to click on the one painted by a human being.
Of course what is really interesting is that it is not easy (at least for me) to decide which is which. For each single pair of images I had to think quite a bit and in the end I clicked but without any strong reasons for choosing one against the other.
The computer panted images have been painted by applying a neural algorithm that can provide an "artistic style". I am no expert in paintings but I have to say that my doubts on which was which gave me a strong feeling that this algorithm works pretty well!
If you wonder how I did, well, I did pretty well: I got it right 7 out of 10 times, but I would attribute the result to "pure luck". I was really undecided on all pairs and found no convincing telltale signs that one particular image was produced by a computer.
I find this really interesting since it shows the kind of activities a computer can perform, into areas that were considered to be human domain only. I am seeing examples in other areas with similar characteristics like writing poetry, composing music, or replacing a journalist … 
Amazing, and scaring too.

About Roberto Saracco

Roberto Saracco fell in love with technology and its implications long time ago. His background is in math and computer science. Until April 2017 he led the EIT Digital Italian Node and then was head of the Industrial Doctoral School of EIT Digital up to September 2018. Previously, up to December 2011 he was the Director of the Telecom Italia Future Centre in Venice, looking at the interplay of technology evolution, economics and society. At the turn of the century he led a World Bank-Infodev project to stimulate entrepreneurship in Latin America. He is a senior member of IEEE where he leads the New Initiative Committee and co-chairs the Digital Reality Initiative. He is a member of the IEEE in 2050 Ad Hoc Committee. He teaches a Master course on Technology Forecasting and Market impact at the University of Trento. He has published over 100 papers in journals and magazines and 14 books.

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