AI vs. Photographers – Murphy Ave Edition

This week on AI vs Photographers we're looking at how well AI knows Historic Murphy Ave in Sunnyvale. 

I'm challenging artificial intelligence to create stunning images of landmarks, and then I'll recreate those pictures myself.  The goal is to show off some exciting local landmarks (most of them would make beautiful locations for couples by the way) and put AI to the test to see if it can truly replace me as a photographer.  In today's world of AI's exploding popularity, questions are being raised about whether or not AI is up to the task of competing with humans in many different jobs and roles. My aim is to test it out in the photography setting.  This all came about while visiting Fort Point in San Francisco with my wife. We took many pictures while exploring and afterwards I was curious to see if AI generated images could authentically show what we saw.

Last week was Mission Santa Clara in Santa Clara, CA and this week it is Historic MurphyAve in Sunnyvale, CA.

Murphy Ave is a small downtown street converted to a pedestrian only area.  There is shopping, dining, and seasonal events. It became pedestrian only during the Covid-19 outbreak when social distancing made outdoor dining the most popular way to eat out. The city puts on various events throughout the year such as car shows.  If you are looking for portraits taken in an urban setting this location is great for that.  Trees line the brick street and there are no cars to lookout for.  It is a picturesque street.

Opening up the AI challenge I asked it to render a general shot of the street with the sign that spans it. While the AI knew that there was a sign it did not know the correct shape or wording on it. I also was not able to positively identify any of the buildings generated during this project. It appears that it was making generic buildings that are loosely based on reality. 

Next up I asked it to create a bookstore that I have visited in the past. See the similarities?  No?  Neither do I. Afterwards I followed up with the AI asking if it was aware of any bookstores on Murphy Ave and it wrote an accurate description of it and the neighboring children's bookstore. It even delivered pictures of both stores and described them. It appears that it has knowledge of the landmark but creates a simplified post card friendly version of it. 

Next up it was tasked with making an outdoor dining scene.  I can’t fault it for the tables and chairs being off since that style is typically found in this scenario.  I can fault it, however, for making generic looking buildings that can not be found in real life.  It gets a similar feel to the real thing but does not make it accurate.  The buildings look like carbon copies of each other minus some slight color changes.

As we’ve seen last week the AI tends to generate simplified versions that could pass as post cards.  A post card does a great job of showing off the local landmarks but does not always get the bigger picture.  Instead they focus on making it look good and sometimes they combine elements from multiple different scenes into one picture.

In the case of the Murphy Ave challenge the AI makes buildings that would stereotypically be found in a small town downtown.  The scenes are made up of generic elements such as the tables and chairs in the outdoor dining picture.  Those tables and chairs do exist in real life and do appear in that setting, but not on Murphy Ave.  In defense of the AI, restaurants can and do change their furniture and it is not that major of a detail.  What is a major detail though is the buildings themselves.  I was not able to match the rendered buildings with anything in reality.  Each building is distinct in their size, shape, color, and material.  Buildings rendered in AI are very bland and do not match real life.

Couples!  Are you looking to take your engagement photos in Sunnyvale?  Murphy Ave is a well known Sunnyvale landmark that would serve you well.  Weekends do get busy so if you have availability to take your portraits on a weekday morning or afternoon the crowds will be considerably lower.  If you are looking for a photographer to take your portraits or if you have any questions feel free to reach out I am always happy to help!