It's fascinating to dig into your family history. Even though it should be more difficult as time passes to learn about those who were here much earlier than us, advancements in technology have introduced new ways to try and fill that gap.
In addition to family tree creation and ancestry tests, MyHeritage now lets you see what your deceased relatives might have looked like in motion.
Animate Your Family Photos
On Thursday, online genealogy company MyHeritage introduced a new AI tool called Deep Nostalgia, which animates the faces on people in still photos. It's meant to allow you to "see your ancestors from generations past like never before."
With our new Deep Nostalgia™, you can see how a person from an old photo could have moved and looked if they were captured on video! Read more: https://t.co/ZwUwzJRQ26 #RootsTech #RootsTechConnect pic.twitter.com/LERXhrqiut
— MyHeritage (@MyHeritage) February 25, 2021
When you upload a photo to Deep Nostalgia, the AI (powered by tech developed by Israeli tech firm D-ID) goes through a library of pre-recorded driver videos of facial movements, and then applies the one that works best. Photos can be in color or in black and white.
With a free MyHeritage account, you can upload up to five photos to Deep Nostalgia. After that, you'll have to register for a paid account to keep using the tool.
The Response to Deep Nostalgia
Deep Nostalgia was created with a heartwarming sentiment, but not everyone seems to be on board. Soon after the tool was rolled out, comments swirled all over social media.
Some said that the tool generated "creepy" or "unnerving" results. Others went so far as to say Deep Nostalgia wasn't any different from deepfakes, or that it would create similar privacy problems.
Perhaps aware of the polarizing reaction the tool would create online, the MyHeritage Blog urges users to not use Deep Nostalgia inappropriately:
While many love the Deep Nostalgia™ feature and consider it magical, others find it uncanny and are uncomfortable with the results. Our driver videos don’t include speech in order to prevent abuse of this feature, such as the creation of “deep fake” videos of living people. Please use this feature on your own historical photos, and not on photos featuring living people without their permission.
On a more lighthearted note, there are other netizens that have deviated from the tool's intended purpose, but in a sillier way. Archaeologist Flint Dibble, for instance, fed the tool some photos of ancient statues instead.
Here's Alexander the Great pic.twitter.com/djbnzszFM0
— Flint Dibble 🍖🏺📖 (@FlintDibble) February 28, 2021
Deep Nostalgia Brings Still Photos to Life
At the end of the day, MyHeritage allows you to create imitations—realistic interpretations of people we never got video footage of.
TNW's Tristan Greene put it best when he said, "An AI that imitates them is no more accurate or powerful than just asking someone to do an impersonation: it’s not the real thing no matter how skilled the impersonator is."
