AI Has Brought Wild West Photos Back to Life and it’s CREEPY
I love when technology does something new and interesting. I also love legends from the wild west (hence my name) so you'd think I'd love how artificial intelligence has brought a series of classic wild west photos back to life. Nope. It's beyond creepy. Let's see if you agree.
If you're not familiar with how this is done, I'll keep it as simple as possible. Artificial intelligence can scan photos and isolate elements like eyes, mouths and other facial features and reanimates them as if they were alive. You really need to see this for yourself. Maybe it's just me, but having Wild Bill Hickok's eyes giving me a glassy stare made me want to crawl under a table.
Here are the before and after photos as colorization and movement was added to the originals.
Wild West Photos Brought to Life with Artificial Intelligence
I get chills looking at all this wild west history. But, I have to admit that the artificial intelligence adding movement to the faces is creepy. It's almost as if it's bringing the personalities back with them. I'm torn between loving and fearing it.
In the end, I find it all endlessly fascinating. Tech Radar explored the ethics and emotions of this new technology and its application. They also used the word "creepy" so I'm not alone in my questioning of whether this should happen.
When my wife traced our family tree back to the real John Henry "Doc" Holliday earlier this year, I never dreamed I'd be looking at the real moving eyes of Wyatt Earp. Creepy or not, it says the modern world clashing head on with the wild west I cherish for better or worse.