【Deborah Driggs Archives】

While some companies are Deborah Driggs Archivesfightingnefarious uses of deepfakes, others are embracing the technology for more playful reasons.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

MyHeritage, a family ancestry company that offers DNA testing much like 23andMe, has unveileda new AI-powered tool called “Deep Nostalgia.” The technology takes your old photos and animates the people in them, producing a full fledged moving picture kind of like the iPhone’s Live Photos.

To create this completely automated tool, MyHeritage partnered with a company called D-ID, which has written an algorithm that creates these animated videos out of old images. Deepfake technology has often been used to “teach” a computer to seamlessly swap the faces of two different people in a video. MyHeritage’s tool, however, uses D-ID’s deep learning technology to automatically animate old still images.

And the results are quite stunning. Here's an old photo that MyHeritage uploaded to its tool:

Credit: myheritage

And here's what Deep Nostalgia was able to create:

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Although, if it was an old photo of your deceased relative, one can also see how it can be at least a little bit weird.

There are some limitationsto the technology, though. For example, if there’s more than one person in an old photo, a user can only animate one individual. Also, the animations are limited to the head, face, and neck. So, while you might wish to see grandpa strutting around town, it’ll still be pretty cool to see him look around and crack a smirk.

To use Deep Nostalgia, all you have to do is signup at the MyHeritage site and upload your photo. The service will automatically use its already-existing AI-powered photo tools to clean up your image. Then it'll get to work bringing your old photo to life using pre-recorded movements and gestures.

The service is free, if you don’t mind a MyHeritage watermark on the bottom right-hand side of your now-moving image.

Although, free often does come with a price. DNA testing companies have been criticized over data privacy concerns before. One of the giants in the industry, 23andMe, previously signed a dealto provide access to the data it collects from the kits to a pharmaceutical company. Databases created by these ancestry companies have even been used by law enforcement to solve crimes.

If that doesn't bother you and you’d like to try MyHeritage’s Deep Nostalgia tool, you can find it here.

Related Video: This scary deepfake tool can make someone say something they never said

• Games
• Science
• Life
• Tech
• Entertainment
• Social Good
• Digital Culture
• Shopping

• Best travel deal: Take 30% off Southwest flights
• Nice dude John Legend defended Kim Kardashian against a cruel Twitter remark
• Apple just fixed an iPhone flaw that overwhelmed the 911 system
• You're screwed if you want to repair the new iPad
• Best robot vacuum deal: Eufy Omni C20 robot vacuum and mop $300 off at Amazon
• Elephants finally catch a break as ivory prices plunge in China
• Jennifer Lawrence, Russian spy who uses sex as a weapon? Just try to resist 'Red Sparrow'
• Playing a game in a different language can make or break a world record speedrun
• Philips now allows customers to 3D print replacement parts
• Uber update allows riders to edit their pickup location

• A dragon may have just eaten part of Washington state
• Netflix releases first 'Jessica Jones' Season 2 photos
• Too late, Elon Musk's flamethrowers have sold out
• Bruno Mars takes home Album of the Year at the 2018 Grammys
• Celebrities were actually given 'consolation puppies' at the Grammys
• Home décor Instagram would be better if we showed our actual stuff
• See the super blue blood moon from anywhere on Earth thanks to NASA
• Elon Musk just sold $5 million worth of flamethrowers
• Future Shift: Forward
• Thousands of new Waymo self

• Nintendo Switch 2 preorder just days away, per leak
• This hot new boyband from China is made up entirely of girls
• The Property Brothers still live together, so there's that
• 15 office prank ideas to show your coworkers who's really the boss
• Every MCU movie villain ranked, from "Iron Man" to "Thunderbolts*"
• Here's the deal with those colorful status updates on Facebook
• Tibetan Lama gives up monkhood for marriage and people love it
• No, the 'Microsoft Edition' of the Galaxy S8 doesn't run Windows 10 Mobile
• Sony PULSE Elite PS5 headset open
• Jack Dorsey: Profit is just, like, a choice (also Twitter is going to live forever)

• AMD Radeon RX 550 + Intel Pentium G4560
• 15 office prank ideas to show your coworkers who's really the boss
• Trump's tweet about women just made the internet's head explode
• Sean Spicer: Trump empowers women. World: You live under a rock, bro?
• Best soundbar deal: Save $300 on the Sonos Arc
• How CPUs are Designed and Built
• Dig into an edible 50
• You can now get terrible Jack in the Box tacos delivered to your house
• Best gaming laptop deal: Save $400 on the HP Victus 15 with Ryzen 5 and Radeon RX 6550M
• 'Game of Thrones' fan deciphers the tiny reflections in Season 7 promo