The MyHeritage page, which specializes in video reconstruction, created an application that allows you to animate photos in seconds. See revive Simón Bolívar, the sage Caldas and Policarpa.
“Deep Nostalgia” or Deep Nostalgia has fascinated thousands of people. It is the application launched by the company MyHeritage, specializing in video reconstruction, which in a matter of seconds is able to bring to life images of characters from the past. At least 26 million photos have been uploaded to this page to see them turned into a short video in which the original characters gesture naturally.
Simón Bolívar, for example, can blink and move his face as if he were being recorded with a modern camera even if it is just one of those old oil portraits hanging in a museum.
Or Policarpa Salavarrieta, better known as Pola, the heroine who spied on the Creole independence forces during the Spanish reconquest, comes to life before our eyes. Animating a face in a photo usually takes between 10 and 20 seconds.
The technology behind Deep Nostalgia uses model videos as a basis for animating photos. “Each model video consists of a fixed sequence of movements and gestures. Deep Nostalgia can very accurately apply a model video to a face that appears in your photo,” the creators explain on their website.
To the extent that such digital tools have become more sophisticated and realistic they have also been used for improper purposes and increase the risk of misinformation. Last year, a company that used similar technology to create nudes of people, mostly women, was denounced from a simple photograph.
Perhaps hence the clear warning from the creators of Deep Nostalgia: “This feature is intended for nostalgic use, that is, to give life to beloved ancestors. Our model videos do not include speech to prevent abuse, such as creating ultra-fake videos of living people. Please use this feature in your own historical photos and not in photos with living people without your permission “.
Sam Gregori, director of the Witness program, a nonprofit organization focused on the ethical use of video and an artificial intelligence expert, recently told The New York Times that “although Deep Nostalgia itself is harmless, is part of this set of tools that are potentially very threatening. “
As there are several possible gesture sequences for each photograph, the program automatically chooses the sequence that is applied to a specific face based on its orientation. “The gestures in the model videos that are used to create the animation sequences are real human gestures and the actors in most of these videos are MyHeritage employees,” the company explains.
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