Deep Nostalgia, a tool from genealogy company MyHeritage, turns still photos into vibrant videos, adding to the global debate about deepfake technologies
By Umberto Bacchi
February 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Like the animated paintings that adorn the walls of Harry Potter’s school, a new online tool promises to bring portraits of deceased relatives to life, sparking discussion about using technology to arise like humans.
Genealogy company MyHeritage launched the “Deep Nostalgia” feature earlier this week, which allows users to turn still images into short videos in which the person in the photo smiles, winks and nods.
“Seeing the faces of our beloved ancestors come to life … allows us to imagine what they could have been in reality and provides a profound new way to connect to our family history,” said MyHeritage founder Gilad Japhet in a statement.
Developed in partnership with Israeli computer vision company D-ID, Deep Nostalgia uses deep learning algorithms to animate images with facial expressions based on those of MyHeritage employees.
Some users of the company took to Twitter on Friday to share the animated images of their deceased relatives, as well as moving images of historical figures, including Albert Einstein and the lost Queen Nefertiti of ancient Egypt.
“I’m breathtaking. This is my grandfather who died when I was eight. @MyHeritage brought him back to life. Absolutely crazy,” Twitter user Jenny Hawran wrote.
While most expressed surprise, others described the feature as “spooky” and said it raised ethical questions. “The pictures are enough. The dead have nothing to say about this,” tweeted user Erica Cervini.
From chatbots to virtual reality, the tool is the latest innovation that aims to bring the dead to life through technology.
Last year, American rapper Kanye West gave his wife Kim Kardashian a hologram of her late father, congratulating her on her birthday and marrying “the most, most, most, most genius man in the world.”
‘ANIMATING THE PAST’
The trend has raised all kinds of ethical and legal questions, particularly around consent and the ability to blur reality by mimicking a virtual double of the living.
Elaine Kasket, professor of psychology at the University of Wolverhampton in Great Britain, who wrote a book about the “digital afterlife,” said that while Deep Nostalgia was not necessarily “problematic,” it was “on top of a slippery slope.” .
“When people start copying history or animating the past a little bit… You wonder where that ends up,” she said.
MyHeritage acknowledges on its website that the technology may be “a little creepy” and its use “controversial,” but steps have been taken to prevent abuse.
“The Deep Nostalgia feature includes hard-coded animations that are intentionally speechless and therefore cannot be used to forge content or deliver a message,” Rafi Mendelsohn, director of MyHeritage, said in a statement.
Still, only images can convey meaning, said Faheem Hussain, a clinical assistant professor at Arizona State University’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society.
“Imagine if someone took a picture of the Last Supper and Judas now winks at Mary Magdalene – what implications that could have,” Hussain told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
Likewise, artificial intelligence (AI) animations can be used to make someone seem like they’re doing things they might not be happy about, like rolling their eyes or smiling at a funeral, he added.
MyHeritage’s Mendelsohn said using photos of a living person without their consent was a violation of the company’s terms and conditions, adding that videos were clearly marked with AI symbols to distinguish them from authentic recordings.
“It is our ethical responsibility to clearly mark such synthetic videos and distinguish them from real videos,” he said.
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(Reported by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi in Milan; edited by Helen Popper. Mention the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charity arm of Thomson Reuters, which spans the lives of people around the world struggling to live free or fair lives. Visit http: / /news.trust.org)
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