A new and exciting AI-powered technology known as Deep Nostalgia has been doing the rounds on Twitter and other social media platforms over the weekend.
The tool, created by an online genealogy platform called MyHeritage, allows its users to add facial animations such as blinks, smiles, head tilts and nods to still photos.
The tool creates extremely realistic clips of people and can be used to bring deceased people to life — even those from several decades ago. The technology is also being humorously compared to the fantastical living portraits and artworks in the Harry Potter franchise, as seen in the movies.
How The Technology Works
According to MyHeritage, ‘Deep Nostalgia uses deep learning algorithms, to produce remarkable results. You can animate any of the faces in your photos to see them move, blink, and smile.’
As the technology is still new, it currently only works on portraits. This version of the tool is not suitable for photographs with multiple faces in one frame nor photographs where people are seen from a distance.
The lifelike animations created through this technology can be downloaded as mp4 files. The videos have no audio — making them similar to a GIF — but they can easily be posted on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram.
Users get a limited amount of animations for free and can access the Deep Nostalgia tool from the MyHeritage website. With the paid subscription, however, users can create a multitude of animations.
Animation Of Historical Figures
Social media users have been extremely fascinated by the technology and have started using it to not only animate deceased family members but also to bring old historical figures to life.
The following viral animations by Twitter user Keerthik Sasidharan brought freedom fighter Bhagat Singh and other prominent personalities like Swami Vivekananda, Munshi Premchand, Lokmanya Tilak back to life.
1. Bhagat Singh
Kind of surreal to take a photo of the singularly inspiring Bhagat Singh — a revolutionary voice in 1920s India, who was hung by the British in 1931, at the age of 24 — run it through the Heritage AI algorithm, and see him reanimated. pic.twitter.com/CfC0Gu6Gxk
— keerthik śaśidharan (@KS1729) February 28, 2021
2. Swami Vivekananda And Lokmanya Tilak
It was hard to find a quality photo of Lokmanya Tilak, but this worked. Tilak urgently deserve a new reappraisal as one of the founding fathers of the modern Indian mind. A reformist & revivalist of traditions, a believer in the power of mass media before most Indians could read. pic.twitter.com/M93KWkR6bc
— keerthik śaśidharan (@KS1729) February 28, 2021
Read More: Microsoft’s New Patent Technology Can Bring Back People From The Dead As Chatbots
3. Kasturba Gandhi And Aurobindo
The great master and teacher Aurobindo wrote, when he was young, a revolutionary spirit, and a restless mind, nearly a century ago: "The Time has perhaps come fot the Indian mind, long pre-ccupied with political and economic issues, for a widening of its horizon." pic.twitter.com/8U9BwxoE7Z
— keerthik śaśidharan (@KS1729) February 28, 2021
Apart from these recognized Indian personalities, here are a few other well-known figures who have been animated as well.
4. Abraham Lincoln
Deep Nostalgia by @MyHeritage is a lot of fun. Here are results by Time-Travel Rephotography x Deep Nostalgia.
Time-Travel Rephotography: https://t.co/qkUwJ8P2Eb
Deep Nostalgia API: https://t.co/mQSCNDl8dh pic.twitter.com/6ncItlrDVQ— Xuan Luo (@XuanLuo14) February 27, 2021
5. Beethoven
https://twitter.com/attilalondon/status/1365691469022044160
6. Mona Lisa Painting
#DeepNostalgia
Mona Lisa animated with MyHeritage.#monalisa #painting #contemporaryart #deepfake #DeepLearning #fineart #animation pic.twitter.com/Hq10cBOBLO— Andrii Frolov (@kznsq) February 27, 2021
This innovative technology has truly been able to breathe life into these well-known personalities.
While concerns have arisen about whether this technology could be used to manipulate photos of people, the company has firmly declared that it does not endorse the creation of ‘deep fake’ videos of public figures without their consent.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: NDTV, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Twitter
Find the Blogger: @MalavikaMenon28
This post was tagged under: artificial intelligence, new technology, what is Deep Nostalgia, deep nostalgia, MyHeritage, which tool can create animations from still photos, animations, old portraits, portraits brought to life, historical figures, how to create lifelike animations, genealogy website, deep fake, AI technology, latest innovations, Bhagat Singh, Kasturba Gandhi, Lokmanya Tilak, Aurobindo, Abraham Lincoln, Mona Lisa, Beethoven, Munshi Premchand, Swami Vivekananda, the technology which creates moving images, artificial intelligence on photos, photo manipulation
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