Google Gemini: The power of photorealism in historical education

I have spoken many times about how great Google Gemini is. Here, I talk about how it can be used in historical education because of its high realism. These are not the stylized images of Dalle-3 but something that has weight in the depiction of reality. This ability to recreate reality is very important in education as ChatGPT and Google Gemini already have research tabs to allow for students to improve their understanding of the past.

Middle Class young woman in Martinsburg in 1840 era.

The image above comes from the prompt: Create photorealistic image of a young Middle Class woman in Martinsburg, Virginia in her room in 1840 era.

Such AI generations are more accurate than previously and you can ask Gemini to elaborate on these images, especially if you see something incorrect in the image.

One such elaboration beyond correcting anachronisms is the ability to label everything in that image. Here is an example.

Google Gemini creates a Photorealistic image of a young Middle-Class woman in Martinsburg, Virginia in her room in 1870 era.

The image above comes from the prompt: Create photorealistic image of a young Middle Class woman in Martinsburg, Virginia in her room in 1870 era.

Next I use the prompt for the chatbot to label the photo: Take this image and label everything that is historically relevant for teaching about this age in interior design and style.

Google Gemini Image with Identifiers on the Image

You would have had to research specific sections separately just to be able to know what each of these elements meant in context. Such a tool as Gemini proves that AI is not just about “taking” people’s jobs or hobbies but enhancing them and making look at our surroundings more closely.

The implications for education can revitalize a rather stagnant profession. This can be way of putting in Socratic thinking into schools, connecting ideas in concentric relationships instead of the linear ideas I was exposed to when I was in my schooling age. There will be people who criticize these tools for stealing people’s art or photographs. My response is that we should be heterodox on this issue.

Chatbots such as ChatGPT are only getting more sophisticated at creating historical images. Teachers should be attempting to use these tools and encourage their students to learn how to use them.

There were many early stories about students using ChatGPT in order to cheat. Now is the time to be able to help students use these tools to understand the nature of their history and societies.

ChatGPT Deep Research Tutorial for High School Students

ChatGPT Deep Research

ChatGPT is changing the world of education, and I hope to be able to help make the process more usable for students specifically in the High School settings.

A new feature is available in the new versions of ChatGPT known as “Deep Research”. Basically, it makes ChatGPT spend lots of time looking through every source of information available to give you the best answer for you to do research on your topic.

Using this process requires that you are subscribed to ChatGPT Pro.

Step 1: Use the Deep Research button on the chat box in ChatGPT

Click on the plus sign on the chat box in ChatGPT.

Then scroll to the Deep research with the telescope icon and click on the button.

ChatGPT Deep Research Icon Screen

Step 2: Ask your question

The next step is to type out your question. In this case, I chose to ask about the Roman army under the first Roman Emperor, Augustus. It would be wise to make sure you clarify specifics.

ChatGPT Deep Research History Questions

ChatGPT will ask you what you to focus on. Choose a topic that is relevant to your research.

Step 3: Focus your research

I selected Recruitment and Training and the chatbot begins its research on various sources.

ChatGPT Deep Research Sources Screen

This process takes time and will take about 5 to 7 minutes depending on the topic. ChatGPT will show you what sources it using to conduct its research while the process is undergoing here.

Step 4: Check the results

ChatGPT will save you time. It will summarize many websites into a single response which will have hyperlink bubble located next to the regular text. Clicking these links will take to the websites so you can expand upon your research.

ChatGPT Deep Research Sources and reports

This tool will greatly help in research here.

Step 5: Integrate your research with original ideas

This is probably the hardest aspect of using ChatGPT here. Many students simply want to complete the homework without effort. This has been covered in publications multiple times. However, it is clear that the tool is here and its time to use to help reinvigorate an often-stale teaching profession. Students need to enhance their thinking and not let a machine replace it.

How Gemini Nano Banana Pro creates Historical images of the Carolingian Empire.

Google Gemini Carolingian Empire Shoes

ChatGPT is getting better at making images efficiently. However, Gemini is still better at making photorealistic images, but the gap is not as big as it once was.

Gemini’s ability to recreate reality will be very important when it comes to history education. The ability to create photorealistic depictions of pre-photographic eras is going to change the teaching profession here. We will now be able to go beyond looking at photographs on Google or Bing Image search.

People on the internet have been quite lazy in recent years, and human created content needs people to go outside and actually photograph things and also make drawings. However, we are not seeing that, so Gemini is giving us the next best thing here.

The image above shows us the power of Google Gemini here. Images can now give us the ability to recreate social relations and see clothes and architecture across the ages.

The days of Dalle-3 making mistakes are now in the past.

Considering it was only really a couple years ago, and we now have photorealistic images of historical ages.

Instead of using static textbooks, we now breathe life into these textbooks with AI.

Many establishment people may not like having this happen. These institutions have ossified and are unwilling to change.

Education now has another chance to change. This change will make history education more accessible but also increase thinking about other cultures and history of social class in other eras.

People should try to embrace it rather than being so defensive about it. In my experience, High School was a real bore with teachers in front of the smartboard but not using it. Students have not been trained by parents and their community to truly care about their education beyond the grades. With LLMs we now have the ability to change that here.

Education can now truly become interactive and intriguing to students.