From CGI in movies to facial recognition technology used by security experts to screen for "bad guys," most of us have, in some way, been exposed to AI-assisted creative and visual technology.
For many, such technology brings about privacy concerns. The ever-increasing ease of creating fake visuals is becoming alarmingly more prevalent. It does not seem so far-fetched to envision the day when the technology will reach a stage when it will make photographic and video graphic evidence obsolete.
The website, ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com, is a transparent way for anybody to get an idea of how advanced AI-generated fake visual technology has come. Developed by Philip Wang, an engineer at Uber, the site performs only one function — to generate fake portraits.
Mind you, these are not avatars or cartoon-like creations. These portraits look uncannily realistic. The page lacks any navigation, text, or other forms of traditional content. When you arrive at the website on your browser you will be greeted with the portrait of a random person. Each time that you refresh the site a new portrait will be shown to you.
Normally that would sound like a boring and uninteresting concept for a website. However, what makes the images on ThisPersonDoesNotExist so fascinating is that they literally belong to people who do not exist — hence the name.
Wang's website uses neural network technology to fabricate these very realistic portraits. Raw data, in the form of real images, is used by this technology's algorithm to train itself in the realistic fabrication of the profiles. This is what allows for the uniqueness of each new profile that is generated.
Within a matter of a few years, the technology that is being showcased on ThisPersonDoesNotExist will likely appear quaint and antiquated. Synthesized images and videos that will be indistinguishable from real-world captures is something that is literally around the corner. Such is the power of AI.
If you want to see for yourself how advanced AI-assisted image synthesis is, check out ThisPersonDoesNotExist for yourself. Part of you will react with a, "whoa, that's cool!" Another part of you will feel creeped out by the possibilities that this technology will unleash.
Image Source:
GIF screen capture of my own screen of a publicly accessible website