The genealogy website MyHeritage has launched a new AI tool that converts photos of deceased relatives into gruesome videos.
The DeepNostalgia feature is powered by technology developed by Israeli technology firm D-ID. MyHeritage says it uses multiple drivers to animate the faces:
Each driver is a video that consists of a fixed series of movements and gestures. Deep nostalgia allows the drivers to very accurately apply a face to your still photo and create a short video that you can share with friends and family. The driver guides the movements in the animation so you can see how your ancestors smile, blink and turn their heads.
With our new Deep Nostalgia ™ you can see how a person could move from an old photo and see if they were captured on video! Read 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 feel uncomfortable resurrecting them digitally without their permission.
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MyHeritage says DeepNostalgia does not generate speech to prevent people from using it to make profound videos. But the company did create a voice for a renewed Abraham Lincoln.
Even if the feature did deliver speech to the people in the photos, it would not be an accurate representation of who they really are. As Neistan editor Tristan Greene put it earlier:
An AI that mimics them is no more accurate or powerful than just asking someone to do an imitation: it’s not the right thing to do, no matter how skilled the imitator is.
I still do not want to test the technology. There is no one whose company I enjoy anymore.
However, I was slightly concerned about MyHeritage’s record of data reach and incomprehensible contracts. But my curiosity quickly tamed my caution.
After seeing the feature that turned me into a monster with glasses, I was glad I did not send anyone I care about to the strange valley.
Despite my own worries, digital resurrection is fast becoming mainstream.
Just in the last few months, Microsoft has obtained a patent for a chatbot with which you could talk to the dead, a brewery used a deep fake of a deceased singer in a new advertising campaign, and an AI recreation of ‘ A Korean pop star performed a ballad on TV. .
Technology may not be able to bring the dead back to life, but it can probably make a lot of money from them – and the people they miss.
Published on February 26, 2021 – 19:56 UTC