Deep Nostalgia Technology is Powered by D-ID’s Live Portrait
D-ID’s Live Portrait is the tech behind the huge success of Deep Nostalgia™ of MyHeritage mobile app which became the most downloaded free app in the UK and US.
When MyHeritage released their Deep Nostalgia tool just over a week ago, using D-ID’s Live Portrait technology, we knew it was going to be a success. But we weren’t prepared for quite how far and fast it was going to go. From the launch at Rootstech in Salt Lake City, Utah, the technology has now reached around the world, with people on every continent on earth using the app to make emotional connections to long-departed family members.
Over 26 million faces have been animated in just a few days, at a rate of thousands per hour.
The MyHeritage mobile app even made it to the top of the App Store, making it the most downloaded free app both in the US and UK, even behind Tiktok
Here’s a quick summary of some of the reactions and uses people have been putting the software to.
Celebrities Using Live Portrait
Even celebrities were getting in on the act. Using the tool to animate their friends and family.
US TV talk-show host, Jimmy Kimmel, said his team was playing around with Deep Nostalgia™ so much they lost an afternoon of productivity!
Renowned English actor and activist, Sir Ian McKellen, famous for playing Magneto in X-Men and Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, animated famous Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde.
Haven’t we always wanted to come face to face with Oscar Wilde? Now we can and see him blink! #MyHeritage #OscarWilde pic.twitter.com/xV8PgOE1E1
— Ian McKellen (@IanMcKellen) March 1, 2021
CNN journalist and anchor, Jake Tapper animated a distant family member born in 1773
My great great great great grand aunt Jane Rowena Huff
Born 1773
Died 1865@MyHeritage pic.twitter.com/bytQ9u3Gpx— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 2, 2021
In The Media
Joelle Goldstein, People.com:
“MyHeritage is helping people experience their family history like never before.”
AJ Willingham, CNN:
“It’s hard to explain the mix of emotions that spark upon seeing a photo of Frederick Douglass come alive with the click of a button.” She says “And yet, there he is, blinking and nodding as if he were just alive yesterday, as if he hadn’t died in 1895, years before film recording became commonplace.”
Tristin Hopper, The Canadian National Post:
“Even the most humourless of great-grandparents can be rendered into smiling and genteel golems.”
D-ID’s technology also featured in the Independent, New York Post, Adweek, Design Taxi, and many others.
Examples From World History
People have been using the app to animate key figures from world history, people who often lived before the AI video era.
Key figures in African-American history
https://twitter.com/intrepidleeloo/status/1366590888428908546
American Presidents
You know him as Thomas Jefferson 🇺🇸 but this smooth character was also known as TJ Jazzy Jeff 😎#POTUS #MyHeritage @MyHeritage @TJMonticello pic.twitter.com/jpPCpw156N
— Presidential Wisdom (@PrezWisdom) February 28, 2021
A thread of great artists and thinkers including American Poet, Emily Dickinson and naturalist, Charles Darwin
These are old photos of famous artists and scientists animated into 'living portraits' using AI: https://t.co/GhfiagWUM2
An eerie yet captivating technology, raising many complex issues.Emily Dickinson pic.twitter.com/AZ2yuvlnsO
— Ferris Jabr (@ferrisjabr) February 27, 2021
The godfather of AI and data science, British codebreaker, Alan Turing
So glad to see finally #AlanTuring "alive"! Makes me feel even more connected to computer science and #AI. Via @MyHeritage https://t.co/FKYlBHELAR pic.twitter.com/lWbsYzcvR3
— Kristian Kersting (@kerstingAIML) February 27, 2021
Indian Independence activist, Shaheed Bhagat Singh
Animated Shaheed Bhagat Singh 🙏
Created by MyHeritage’s Deep Nostalgia AI tool which uses deep learning algorithms to animate images with facial expressions (that are based on those of MyHeritage employees).
Well trained AI model 👏🤙#artificialintelligence #machinelearning pic.twitter.com/IGZO9tI9MM— Sunny Nehra (@sunnynehrabro) March 1, 2021
French writer and thinker, Victor Hugo – who wrote Les Misérables
Victor Hugo semble avoir oscillé toute sa vie entre le terrestre et le sublime, il a cherché à s'élever au-dessus de sa condition de simple mortel tout en restant profondément humain. 4️⃣ émissions pour parcourir sa vie et son oeuvre immense
📖 https://t.co/Pftq5BIVfN pic.twitter.com/xoI1ZPF6Gw— France Culture (@franceculture) March 2, 2021
Some Emotional Reactions
My Aunt Pola. She survived the Holocaust & helped my other aunt survive. My father & 3 siblings (of 8) survived. Sadly, Pola died only a couple of years after the war, so I never met her. I sort of feel more like I’m meeting her thanks to this animation.https://t.co/08RsvdHtZb
— 🌻🌻🌻Vegan Diva🌻🌻🌻 (@VeganMarilyn) March 2, 2021
This actually moved me to tears, I have never seen a moving image of Dad, he sadly died when I was 3, incredible and emotional thank you @MyHeritage #RootsTechConnect #RootsTech21 #DeepNostalgia https://t.co/2yTuYhgYSe
— Paul Chiddicks (@chiddickstree) February 25, 2021
I love the way @MyHeritage brought the people in my photo to life! Yesterday was my Dad's birthday, today is the anniversary of his death. Seeing his face move after decades was mind-blowing as we didn't have video of him.🦋#DeepNostalgia https://t.co/SZdxDuYsFf
— Tracy Iglesias (@Tracy_Iglesias) March 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/SushiBlackII/status/1366875882208526345?s=20
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