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Genealogy site MyHeritage has unveiled a new AI tool that turns photos of deceased relatives into spooky videos.
The DeepNostalgia feature is powered by technology developed by Israeli tech company D-ID. MyHeritage says it uses multiple drivers to animate faces:
Each pilot is a video made up of a fixed sequence of movements and gestures. Deep Nostalgia can very precisely apply the drivers to a face in your still photo, creating a short video that you can share with your friends and family. The driver guides the movements in the animation so you can see your ancestors smiling, blinking and turning their heads.
With our new Deep Nostalgia ™ you can see how a person in an old photo might have moved and looked if they had been captured on video! Learn more: https://t.co/ZwUwzJRQ26 #RootsTech #RootsTechConnect pic.twitter.com/LERXhrqiut
– MyHeritage (@MyHeritage) 25 February 2021
I would love to have the chance to talk to my grandparents again. But I’m uncomfortable with the idea of resurrecting them digitally without their consent.
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MyHeritage says DeepNostalgia does not generate speech to prevent people from using it to create deepfake videos. But the company has created a voice for a resurrected Abraham Lincoln.
Even if the feature produced speech for the people in the photos, it wouldn’t be an accurate representation of who they really are. As Tristan Greene, Editor-in-Chief of Neural previously said:
An AI that mimics them is no more precise or more powerful than simply asking someone to impersonate them: it’s not the real thing, no matter how talented the impersonator is.
Still, I am not averse to testing the technology on myself. There is no one whose company I appreciate more.
However, I was slightly concerned about MyHeritage’s track record of data and incomprehensible contracts. But my curiosity quickly tamed my prudence.
After watching the movie turn me into a monster with glasses eyes, I was glad I didn’t send anyone I was interested in to the strange valley.
Despite my own qualms, the digital resurrection is becoming a mainstream.
In the past few months alone, Microsoft has secured a patent for a chatbot that lets you talk to the dead, a brewery used a deepfake of a deceased singer in a new ad campaign, and an AI recreation of a Korean popstar has interpreted a ballad on television. .
The technology might not be able to bring the dead back to life, but it could probably make a lot of money with them – and the people who miss them.
Published February 26, 2021 – 19:56 UTC
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