[ad_1]
Nostalgia sells and marketers know it. People like to fantasize about a past that they think is better than it probably was – and wonder what it could have been for those close to them who lived through it. To capitalize on this, a genealogy tracking service called MyHeritage launched an AI-powered tool it calls Deep Nostalgia that animates old photos of users’ family members, deceased or not.
Several users of the service have taken to twitter to share animated images of their great-grandparents, resuscitated and exhibiting various facial expressions. The style of each video is almost the same: the subject moves their eyes and then tilts their head a little, as if trying to remember something in response to a question, before returning their gaze to the viewer. But then the service is at the start and chances are it will become much more flexible over time.
Check this example found on Twitter below:
Mainly an advertisement and a fashion? – We would never dissuade people from exploring their ancestry or heritage, but this particular tool from MyHeritage seems like nothing more than a marketing project … much like his previous attempt at going viral where he used AI to improve the quality of old family photos.
MyHeritage requests loads of data from users, which can then be used to try and sell customers on paid services. There are also legitimate concerns regarding its use and the protection of users’ DNA. The criticism also applies to other industry giants like Ancestry, 23andMe, and FamilyTreeDNA, all of which promise to provide a wealth of information about your roots in return for your privacy. Sensitive information like user DNA is then stored in massive databases that can be sold to medical technology companies … or that could be compromised by hackers.
“Release” – While reviving old photos is new and apparently free to use the service, we can’t help but think that seeing meemaw as an animated deepfake might not be worth accepting the privacy policy and MyHeritage’s terms of service, because who knows where these images might end up. And also, if meemaw got rid of this deadly coil, we can’t exactly make her consent.
[ad_2]
Source link