Restoring old photos with our AI overlords

Hello! My apologies for the small amount of new content during the past few months, but I have been quietly working on the website behind the scenes. I have an enormous collection of low resolution .jpg files of slide scans from the late 1990s and early 2000s that have been collecting digital dust on numerous hard drives for a quarter of a century. For the most part, they are horribly pixelated, discolored, poorly lit, and generally unusable for the website, which is a shame, because they are historically significant. In the past few months I've been experimenting with various photo restoration programs and AI editors which have produced some fairly spectacular results. While I've been hesitant to rely on AI programs (older apps distorted and jumbled important details), the technology has finally reached a point to where the restoration results are historically accurate. 

Here's an example of what I've been working on. This is good shot of Aero Coach's Bandeirante N134EM, but it's a typical bad scan from the early 2000s. It's pixelated, has too much contrast, the slide was dirty, the color has an annoying blue tint, etc.

Example 1: Before

After a little tweaking in Photoshop and some AI noise reduction and white balance, the photo magically looks like it could been taken last week. I'm really happy with the result. It almost looks a little too perfect and smooth, but the alternative is that it would probably never be seen again.

Example 1: After

This is a more extreme example. This scan of Air Miami Heron N121G at Marathon, Florida is a mess, but it's an incredibly rare photo and one of the few I've ever found of their short-lived service to the Keys.

Example 2: Before

Once again, the restored photo looks like it could have been taken last week. It does look slightly unreal, but it's certainly a better representation of the real thing than the deteriorated slide seen above.

Example 2: After

To use AI or not?  I think it's an amazing tool when the alternative is being stuck with a photo that is otherwise unusable.

I'd love to know your opinion.