Yahoo Finance PornHub used AI to remaster the oldest erotic films in 4K
A machine learning system taught an algorithm to colorize skin flicks from as far back as 1896.
PornHub has delved into the past to remaster some of the oldest erotic movies in existence. The Remastured project (warning: that link will lead you to some very NSFW images) used AI to restore and colorize skin flicks from as far back as 125 years ago. The porn giant harnessed machine learning and 100,000 adult images and videos to teach the AI how to colorize the films (perhaps it also learned a thing or two about how people passed the time 100 years before smartphones).
Several algorithms were used to restore the films with "limited human intervention," according to PornHub. The process started by reducing noise and sharpening and contrasting images. The videos were boosted to run in 4K at 60 frames per second, and audio was either remastered or a new soundtrack was added.
The titillating movies that PornHub has restored include The Kiss from 1896, which featured the first smooch captured on film. Fun fact: the 18-second movie was distributed by a holding company for Thomas Edison's manufacturing firms, and PornHub says it was "denounced as shocking and obscene to viewers" at the time. The library of 20 scenes also includes a 1897 short from legendary filmmaker Georges Méliès called After the Ball, which includes simulated nudity.
It didn't take too much longer before the advent of more explicit films. So, if watching threesomes or "kinky cosplay" from the 1920s in 4K with plinky-plonky silent film music is your thing, you'll know just where to find it.
