The application that allows old photos to come to life is deep nostalgia

The MyHeritage page, which specializes in video reconstruction, has developed an app that allows you to animate photos in seconds. Look at Simon Bolivar, the brilliant Caldas and Polycarpa are revived.

“Deep nostalgia” or deep nostalgia Has attracted thousands of people. It is an application launched by MyHeritage, a company specializing in video reconstruction, capable of reviving images of characters from the past in a matter of seconds. At least 26 million photos have been uploaded to this page to see it be converted into a short video, in which the original characters gesture naturally.

For example, Simon Bolivar can blink and move his face as if it were being recorded with a modern camera, even though it is only one of the old oil portraits hanging in a museum.

Or the protagonist La Pola, known as La Pola, who spied for the Creole Freedom Forces during the Spanish Reconstruction, comes alive before our eyes. Animating a face into a photo usually takes 10 to 20 seconds.

The technology behind Deep Nostalgia uses sample videos to animate photos. “Every sample video has a fixed sequence of movements and gestures. Deep nostalgia can be used as a precision model video for the face that appears in your photo ”, explain the creators on their website.

As these types of digital tools become more complex and realistic, they also increase the risk of misinformation for improper purposes. Last year a company was denounced for using a similar technology to create nudes of people, mainly women, from a simple photo.

Therefore, a clear warning from the creators of Deep Nostalgia: “This feature is meant to resurrect loving ancestors, that is, for ancient use. There is no talk in our sample videos to prevent abuses such as creating videos of serious fake live personalities. Please use this feature in your own historical photos, but not in photos with people living without their permission.

Sam Gregory, program director and artificial intelligence expert at Witness, a non – profit organization that focuses on the ethical use of video, recently told The New York Times, “Although deep nostalgia is harmless, it is part of this whole area. The most intimidating tools ”.

Since there are many possible gestures for each photo, the program automatically selects the order that fits a particular face based on its orientation. “The gestures in the sample videos used to create the animated scenes are real human gestures and most of the actors in these videos are MyHeritage employees,” the company explains.

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