Nostalgia sells and marketers know it. People like to fantasize about a past that they think is better than it probably was – and wonder what it could have been like for their relatives who went through it. To take advantage of this, a genealogy tracking service called MyHeritage has launched an AI-powered tool called Deep Nostalgia that animates old photos of users’ relatives, whether they are deceased or not.
Having multiple users of the service Taken to Twitter to share animated images of their great-grandparents resuscitated, and with different facial expressions. The style of each video is almost the same: the subject moves his eyes around and then tilts his head slightly, as if trying to remember something in response to a question, before returning his gaze to the viewer. But yes, it’s an early day for the service, and chances are it will eventually become a lot more flexible.
Checking out this example found on Twitter below:
Usually an ad and a fad? We would never stop people from researching their origins or heritage, but this particular tool from MyHeritage doesn’t seem like much more than a marketing project … just like its previous attempt at virality, using AI to improve the quality of old family photos .
MyHeritage demands a huge amount of data from users, which can later be used to try to upsell customers on paid services. There are also legitimate concerns about the use and protection of users’ DNA. The criticism also applies to other industry giants such as Ancestry, 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA, all of which promise to provide a wealth of information about your roots in exchange for your privacy. Sensitive information such as user DNA is then stored in huge databases that can be sold to medical technology companies … or compromised through hacks.
“Free” – While resuscitation of old photos is new and using the service is ostensibly free, we can’t help but feel that seeing meemaw as an animated deepfake isn’t worth it, isn’t worth agreeing with MyHeritage’s privacy policy and terms of service, because who knows where these images might end up. And if Meemaw has been pushed from this mortal role, we can’t really get her permission.