A new artificial intelligence (AI) based service, called Deep Nostalgia, is allowing users to bring still photos to life, by turning them into a deepfake video. The Deep Nostalgia service, created by online genealogy company MyHeritage, uses algorithms from AI company D-ID to create the deepfake videos, which have gone viral on Twitter over the weekend. The videos created are similar to live photos that’s offered many Android phones today, and on Apple’s iPhones. However, those devices actually shoot a short video instead.
What’s even more interesting about Deep Nostalgia is that it can take old photos, even of people who don’t exist today, and bring them to life. It analyzes the face in question and applies pre-recorded videos to the same, making them look quite real. The platform is meant to allow users to bring back deceased loved ones to life and perhaps create digital photo frames of them. Something similar to living portraits and artwork seen in the popular Harry Potter movies and books.
The videos created last only a few seconds and have no audio, so they’re more like GIFs. The company says it doesn’t pass on the photos you upload to any third party platforms, and if you upload a photo without signing up for it, the same will be deleted automatically. The platform can only work with standalone photos of people right now, though the range of cameras they can be shot from seems virtually limitless.
It can also animate faces only, meaning you cannot upload a full frontal shot of people and have them walk around etc. The MyHeritage website allows only five photos to be uploaded for free right now, after which users will have to upload a paid account.
