Tech Tok: Making ‘digital twins’ of people using AI
Published: Published Date – 12:45 AM, Wed – 5 October 22
Earlier this week, Hollywood action movie legend Bruce Willis denied selling the rights of his face to Deepcake, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)company to create his ‘digital twin’.
Hyderabad: Earlier this week, Hollywood action movie legend Bruce Willis denied selling the rights of his face to Deepcake, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) company to create his ‘digital twin’. Yes, you read that right. The rights of his face!
Even if the Die Hard star hasn’t sold the rights, there might be others who are now eagerly reading up on what Deepcake does, especially actors out of jobs, or retired, or incapacitated that they can no longer act in a conventional way. Even the report about Willis was fuelled because he had retired in March following a diagnosis of aphasia, a condition that impedes a person’s ability to write and speak.
Back to Deepcake, a Russian deepfake company that thrives on the use of deepfakes, which in turn uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology to create realistic videos, mostly of celebrities or politicians. In fact, a deepfake of Willis appeared in an advert for a Russian telecom company last year.
If you search the internet for deepfakes, there are many examples of how it works, with some deepfake artists deepfaking Tom Cruise while one of the earliest examples was a speech video of Barack Obama. The misuse, of course, is widespread, with many female celebrities targeted by pornography makers using deepfake technology.
Setting aside the potential for misuse, deepfake, like the Willis episode shows, might be in for a rich future, because it can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create realistic simulations of famous figures, and like we said earlier, actors out of a job due to various reasons might look at it to earn some money selling the rights of their faces, or those looking at cashing in on the technology, can sell the rights to be used by filmmakers who want to cast that actor’s digital twin in their movies.
In fact, ‘Star Wars’ veteran James Earl Jones has already handed over the rights of his unique Darth Vader tones to another AI company, indicating he was retiring from the role, and passing the baton on through the use of technology.
Perhaps the day, when a digital twin of Tom Cruise throws a few punches and enacts daredevil stunts in an SS Rajamouli movie, might not be too far. In the dictionary of technology, the word ‘impossible’ just does not seem to exist. You can never say!
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— Dennis Marcus Mathew with agency inputs