(credit: Google Brain)
Google Brain has devised some new software that can create detailed images from tiny, pixelated source images. Google’s software, in short, basically means the “zoom in… now enhance!” TV trope is actually possible.
First, take a look at the image on the right. The left column contains the pixelated 8×8 source images, and the centre column shows the images that Google Brain’s software was able to create from those source images. For comparison, the real images are shown in the right column. As you can see, the software seemingly extracts an amazing amount of detail from just 64 source pixels.
Of course, as we all know, it’s impossible to create more detail than there is in the source image—so how does Google Brain do it? With a clever combination of two neural networks.