Genealogy website MyHeritage has introduced an Artificial Intelligence Tool which lets you reanimate the old photographs of your dead relatives or any famous celebrities. This tool is based on the ‘deep fake’ technique.
If you always had a fantasy to experience the ‘living or talking photographs’ just like in Harry Potter, then this is your best chance to see one.
After uploading the photo onto MyHeritage, it is processed through Deep Nostalgia, and animated based on a set of gestures and movements previously recorded by a model.
The Deep Nostalgia then guides the movements in the animation so you can see your ancestors smile, blink, and turn their heads.
If you haven’t tried our new Deep Nostalgia™ feature yet, you’re missing out! Take out your old family photos and animate your #ancestors! Read more: https://t.co/9jQb55RHkt #RootsTech #RootsTechConnect pic.twitter.com/fJySwDsO2J
— MyHeritage (@MyHeritage) February 27, 2021
This AI Tech is both terrifying and amusing for some people. The main machine learning methods used to create deep fakes are based on deep learning and involve training generative neural network architectures, such as autoencoders or generative adversarial networks (GANs).
With our new Deep Nostalgia™, you can see how a person from an old photo could have moved and looked if they were captured on video! Read more: https://t.co/ZwUwzJRQ26 #RootsTech #RootsTechConnect pic.twitter.com/LERXhrqiut
— MyHeritage (@MyHeritage) February 25, 2021
According to MyHeritage’s official website, “The remarkable technology for animating photos was licensed by MyHeritage from D-ID, a company specializing in video reenactment using deep learning. MyHeritage integrated this technology to animate the faces in historical photos and create high-quality, realistic video footage.”
Conversation with dead relatives by Microsoft
Recently, Microsoft also had a patent granted that details a method for creating a conversational chatbot modeled after a specific person — a “past or present entity … such as a friend, a relative, an acquaintance, a celebrity, a fictional character, a historical figure,” according to the filing with the US Patent and Trademark Office as reported by CNN.
Using this tech, you can talk to your deceased relative, virtual person, or any celebrity for that matter.
It goes without saying that these technologies will become common in the future but the question still stands, where do people or companies draw the line?
