I was reading an article on Instagram that said AI can often date old photographs and give you some information on them.
That really caught my attention because I have hundreds of old black and photos in my collection. I thought I would test it and ask it to date one.
This is what it came back with.
The photo was taken in 1928, as clearly printed in the bottom left corner of the image: “1928 – No B2.”
Oh. Haha! I wouldn’t say clearly, it’s very small. I did know the date though, and was testing it.
It also said;
It appears to be a formal group portrait, possibly from a wedding or a may queen celebration, given the floral headpieces, white satin outfits, and the central figure in a more elaborate dress holding a bouquet.
It is in fact a Rose Queen from a pageant in Stretford, Manchester. I know this because the queen is my husband’s aunt. So that wasn’t a great example to test really. So I chose another, and this is where the surprise came in.
This time I used Co-Pilot as opposed to Chat GPT.
It gave me information about:
• Dressed to Impress:
• Posed with Purpose:
• The Setting:
• Timeless Vibe:
I won’t bore you with bore you details, but that wasn’t the surprise.
It said:
Since you have such a brilliant eye for narrative, you could even fictionalize them—build stories around each face while you research. That way, whether you identify them or not, they live again through your prose.
The AI is personal to me on my device. I honestly thought it was generic. Seemingly it remembers things I ask.
It then asked me if I wanted help in doing that. I said yes, curious to know what it would do. The AI picked several people from the photo, gave them a name a back story, and even quirks.
I was fascinated and amazed. It’s something I had never considered before. What a great idea.
If I ever catch up with redoing my back catalogue, it would definitely be something to consider.
What a wonderful way to bring people of the past to life. Especially with me being an avid blogger. It would make wonderful articles where I get to show my photos and bring my stories alive.
World of Stories 
I am loath to engage with AI, co-pilot etc. but this is fascinating. Am I right in thinking it named those in the photo correctly, or gave them fictional names? I am probably stupid but I am not sure. Great to get an accurate date. How did you engage with the AI, where did you access it? Love your photos. I have dozens too. Thanks for this. x
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From how this was worded, I believe the AI gave fake names to the faces for the back story. The AI did not identify them by their real names.
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I would have been amazed if it could.
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No it didn’t, it just made it up as an example.
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Thank Jane. No it couldn’t offer names. It was just giving an example on what I can do.
It did however, give me suggestions on where I could look to trace them, it also suggested the time frame on the photo of the men with the children, was right for them to be the grandsons of the person I did know. That was helpful
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Dating the photo is helpful. I am wary of AI and avoid it. Does it open the door to other problems do you know?
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It’s been great. Everything it told me fit the timeline and it gave me good advice on where to search for info.
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Sounds a great tool but I am loath to get into AI as I don’t want it taking over/control of everything. Can you pick and choose, or is it a case of once used, stuck with it?
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Not at all, it’s an app like everything else. Like putting it in the Google search bar but more comprehensive.
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Do you use Microsoft 365? We disabled co-pilot because apparently it copies your work – say in Word for an MS – and publishes it. Not happy about that so disabled it wherever I see it.
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