The online genealogy company MyHeritage has a new tool that can help you bring your family history … to life. Kind of.
Deep Nostalgia is a new AI-powered tool that can animate still photos of people by adding simple effects like smiles, nods and clips. It can add movement to any old photo, and it’s free to try, as long as you create an account with MyHeritage.
After uploading a photo of a loved one, it is processed using the AI which adds a series of animations based on facial expressions of MyHeritage employees. The result – available within 10-20 seconds – is presented in the form of a very short video clip or poison.
A company called MyHeritage is now offering a new service called Deep Nostalgia, which can animate people on old photos and create a short video that looks like it was taken while posing and preparing for the portrait. [read more: https://t.co/TvjAQdSf9A] pic.twitter.com/5Mn3YLgi6W27 February 2021
The AI is licensed from the Israeli company D-ID (which stands for ‘de-identification’) and is currently only capable of animating people’s faces. Even multiple faces in a single photo can come alive.
Whether the idea of killing dead family members is brilliant or creepy is perhaps up to you to decide. Even MyHeritage admits that it can be polarizing.
“Some people like the Deep Nostalgia feature and consider it magical,” says MyHeritage in the FAQ section of the Deep Nostalgia page, “while others find it appalling and dislike it. The results can indeed be controversial and it’s hard to remain indifferent to this technology. ‘
Viral disappears
Deep Nostalgia went viral on Twitter over the weekend, with people wanting to let their deceased loved ones live. Some, however, took it a step further and tried it on photos of historical statues … with interesting results.
If you want to try it for yourself, go to the Deep Nostalgia website and set up a free account. You can upload up to five photos for free, but more will require you to get a paid account. If you already have a full subscription with MyHeritage, you can use the service at no extra cost and upload unlimited photos.
If you are concerned about privacy, MyHeritage says that it does not share photos with third parties, and, as mentioned on the Deep Nostalgia homepage, photos uploaded without completing the registration are automatically deleted to protect your privacy ‘.