MyHeritage just released this feature that uses AI technology to estimate the year a photo was taken.
It looks at nuances such as clothing, hairstyles, facial hair, and other objects characteristic of a particular decade. After a few seconds an estimated year the photo was taken appears. There’s also a confidence level and average error range. Now available for desktop and laptops, a phone app is promised,
There’s detailed information in the blog post Introducing PhotoDater™, an Exclusive, Free New Feature to Estimate When Old Photos Were Taken.
Sometimes a year estimate cannot be displayed. MyHeritage will not display estimates that lack confidence, I’d rather have no estimate than a poor one.
I have tested it and it does a decent job, though on one photo (for which I could estimate pretty well, based on my uncle’s age), it was 20 years off! Another tool in our tool chest, but still to be used with some degree of caution.