Deeply fake

“This is awful. Maybe we can get a computer to paint us a new Picasso. Or write a couple new John Lennon tunes. The complete lack of understanding here is shameful.”

Chris Evans

If emotion is evoked from the controlled act, one would assume the distillation of an actor’s performance might do the same. Would we want to watch deep fake performances? WOULD we watch Princess Leia being played by a ‘version’ of Carrie Fischer? Or Mark Hamill’s youthful comeback in the latest iteration of the series? We DID. Perhaps because we know there is some Carrie or Hamil in there somewhere. In a more extreme example, Magic City Films announced in 2019 that they had secured the rights to Local South African author, Gareth Crocker’s novel ‘Finding Jack’, and had cast JAMES DEAN in the lead role. The reaction from actors such as Chris Evans (Captain America) was understandable.

But AI is doing just that. This version of a ‘Beatles original’ gets as close to the skin as it gets… for now. (I heard most of the ‘Beatles’ sound coming in at around 0:48)

You’d think it would be appropriate at least to keep the robots focused on where we need to establish respectable protocols for a utopian future. It’s not always quite respectable, but it is entertaining to listen to the two robots set up for a conversation by Cornell university. (Don’t jump ahead to it, but their mention of God is priceless)