My Heritage brings old family photos to life using AI technology

"You can see your ancestors smile, blink, and turn their heads," My Heritage boasts.

News 12 Staff

Mar 4, 2021, 3:26 PM

Updated 1,373 days ago

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A genealogical company's use of AI technology is bringing old photographs to life on social media.
MyHeritage says the Deep Nostalgia technology uses several drivers to apply a fixed sequence of movements and gestures to faces in the the photographs. "You can see your ancestors smile, blink, and turn their heads," the company's website boasts. 
Users must sign up to get started and can use either the MyHeritage website or app to work on their photos.
Once uploaded, the program first enhances the photo and isolates the faces. The company says the technology requires high-resolution faces.
Photograph used with My Heritage Deep Nostalgia app prior to enhancement (Credit: Brian Heyman, News 12)
Some famous names have dabbled with the program, including Keith Olbermann and Jake Tapper.
Tapper used it to animate a photo of his great-great-great-great-grand aunt.
Olbermann shared animations of old baseball and hockey cards.
My Heritage says it licensed the technology from a company called D-ID. The company says users' privacy is protected and that the photos/videos are not shared with a third party.
It was only a matter of time before some users branched away from genealogy and used it on other images, such as this user who brought to life the painting of Vigo the Carpathian from "Ghostbusters 2."
Another user animated the meme-worthy Christiano Ronaldo statue. 
Click HERE to visit the My Heritage site for more information.