Deep Nostalgia

[rslade]

My sister died at age twelve.  Some time later, my Mom got one of those paintings that artificially age your "loved one" to adulthood.  My siblings and I are all vaguely creeped out by it.

Why do I tell you this?  MyHeritage has announced a new feature that allows you to use deepfake technology to "animate" old pictures of your ancestors and make them appear to smile and move.  I suspect the result will be similarly creepy.  It'll probably also be somewhat misleading, since the algorithms will perform a standard set of functions, and are likely to show your dour grandfather as happy, smiling, and carefree ...

[CISOScott]

I knew this day was coming when a picture is no longer a picture. You will not be able to trust pictures or videos as they can be manipulated. Just wait until we get into wordspeak, groupthink, and the canceling of opinions or voices "they" don't like..... 

oh wait...

Dang! 

[Dmor_11]

Sorry about your sister.

Saw something just yesterday on the news regarding deep fakes. The technology is very early, and it will only get better. I believe this is something very concerning and the GOV should get in front of.

[cindelicato]

This tech isn't new, and the story alluded to in a prior post dealt with a Cheerleader Mom who was using 'deep fakes' to discredit (or worse) her daughter's rivals.  This is possibly the first confirmed siting of known criminal activity.

My spouse asked me "how good can the deep fake technology be already?"  I showed her https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/, noting that many of the faces generated have obvious flaws, but quite a number are passable to the casual observer. 

Stay safe out there.