After generating the first few upscaled images, the next step was to see if they improved the use of filters. Verdict: some good results. This seems to me one of main benefits of AI upscaling images. You tend to lose original detail with most “artistic” filters, so if you start with a small, low-res image, the results tend to be… sub-optimal. Start with a vastly upscaled image, and you get a more convincing output.
This neon-effect filter used the upscaled image that I’d previously produced. You can see, below, the original blurry low-resolution Youtube screen-capture that I used as the starting point. There’s also a related cartoony filter effect here (in which I used an overlay of a Tokyo night scene).
RAW experimental 
