New AI ‘Deep Nostalgia’ brings old photos, including very old ones, to life

Reminiscent of the Harry Potter series, those family photos hung on the wall might soon take on a new life.

The genealogy platform MyHeritage has released a feature that animates faces in still photos using video reenactment technology. The feature, called Deep Nostalgia, produces a realistic depiction of how a person could have moved and looked if they were captured on video.

Deep Nostalgia, licensed from the AI face platform D-ID, uses pre-recorded driver videos of facial movements prepared by MyHeritage. The pre-recorded videos direct the movements in the animation and consist of sequences of real human gestures.

Users can upload a picture of a single face for animation. The photos are enhanced prior to animation using the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer. Depending on the picture, the feature will select the best driver to apply to the photograph. The feature will then produce a short video animation of an individual face that can smile, blink, and move.

“You’ll have a ‘wow moment’ when you see a treasured family photo come to life with Deep Nostalgia,” said Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO of MyHeritage. “Seeing our beloved ancestors’ faces come to life in a video simulation lets us imagine how they might have been in reality, and provides a profound new way of connecting to our family history.”

Users have to sign up for a free account on MyHeritage and then upload a photo. From there the process is automated; the site enhances the image before animating it and creating a gif. The site’s FAQ says it does not provide the photos to any third parties, and on its main page a message reads “photos uploaded without completing signup are automatically deleted to protect your privacy.” Users can animate five photos for free before requiring a subscription to upload more.

To sign up for your free account:
https://www.myheritage.com

To see the animation in action:
https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/28/22306097/ai-brings-still-photos-life-meme-twitter-geneaology-myheritage

Special thanks to The Verge for article resources