The recent overuse of AI upscaling on old Doctor Who videotape is so bad that people are saying the DVDs look better. Fortunately, this project uses a reserved approach which preserves a natural look. A decade from now, AI upscaling will be much more advanced, and I’m sure we’ll see incredible high-definition upscales of old tapes, but the current technology must be used sparingly. Artificial intelligence could also assist in reassembling and reediting Deep Space Nine and Voyager from 35mm (which I still believe will happen eventually—and hopefully in UHD!).
^^this
The DVDs do sometimes look better, especially if text is involved (the "The Caves of Androzani" panels where text is turned into mush is the only real downer to what otherwise looks really good all-in-all*. TBH, some of what is being done has come a long way and for upscaling native videotape content it's a real and tangible boon, even during scene fades between interlaced sources (it is very impressive). Or where the original film was lost or destroyed and all remaining is a telerecording. But if the original film stock is there, it makes sense to scan it at the highest possible resolution as there's more detail for AI to work with, as well as greater color fidelity. Eventually, AI likely can approximate native film or be "good enough", but with UHD and HDR already available the simulated color expansion won't be as good (film is simply phenomenal in terms of scale)... Even the Doctor Who blu-ray releases still go back to the films because those still look far better by comparison (partially due to no telerecording/telecine frame rate discontinuities adding yet another layer of problems).
I do wonder when upscaling processes that can take 480i videotape can really create 2180p (or even 1080p) that doesn't look like waxy mannequins. Right now, the dithering effects used along with the edge and color gamut enhancements are good but still noticeable.
* a couple of brief moments still looking out of place, but those few are nowhere near as obvious as the text being turned into mush, not the other way around