MyHeritage is offering a new feature called Deep Nostalgia, so users can animate old photos of family. MyHeritage
MyHeritage is offering a new feature called Deep Nostalgia, so users can animate old photos of family. MyHeritage
MyHeritage is offering a new feature called Deep Nostalgia, so users can animate old photos of family. MyHeritage
MyHeritage is offering a new feature called Deep Nostalgia, so users can animate old photos of family. MyHeritage

'Deep Nostalgia': MyHeritage now allows you to animate old photos using deepfake technology


Katy Gillett
  • English
  • Arabic

Soon the walls of your home could look more like the hallways of Hogwarts, thanks to genealogy service MyHeritage's new Deep Nostalgia feature.

The AI-enabled synthetic media tool allows users to upload a photo of a person and see that individual's face animated by an algorithm. Once-static images are now brought to life, as the heads move around, eyes blink and facial expressions change.

This is the magic of deepfakes and the pull of seeing past and present loved ones revived through imagery has seen a spike in social shares since the feature was revealed this week at a family history conference.

The National had a play with the tool and here are the results.

See Lebanese singer Fairuz, real name Nouhad Wadie' Haddad, in all her heyday glory:

Elvis Presley was all shook up:

We even animated a young Queen Elizabeth II:

Jazz great Louis Armstrong was brought back to this wonderful world:

My Fair Lady star Audrey Hepburn reprised her role as an on-screen legend:

And here's Marilyn Monroe reminding us all of her famous quote: "Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."

While it is an impressive feature, which is powered by Israeli company D-ID, best known for creating technology to digitally de-identify faces, concerns have been expressed surrounding MyHeritage's agenda. The company's core business is to sell DNA tests, after all.

It's free to animate your photos using this tool, but you have to give over some data – at least an email – and agree to its terms and conditions, and privacy policy, in order to do so. Its policies, however, have stirred up controversies over the years, reports TechCrunch.

For example, in 2020, the Norwegian Consumer Council reported MyHeritage to the national consumer and data protection authorities as it believed the firm was taking "unlawfully excessive liberties with people's sensitive data".

In 2018, MyHeritage reported more than 92 million user accounts were exposed in a data breach and, later, data from that breach was reportedly found for sale on the dark web.

So, while it is undoubtedly a cool tool, anyone concerned about handing over their data so easily to such a giant commercial entity may want to think twice before reanimating an old friend.

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Picture of Joumblatt and Hariri breaking bread sets Twitter alight

Mr Joumblatt’s pessimism regarding the Lebanese political situation didn’t stop him from enjoying a cheerful dinner on Tuesday with several politicians including Mr Hariri.

Caretaker Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury tweeted a picture of the group sitting around a table at a discrete fish restaurant in Beirut’s upscale Sodeco area.

Mr Joumblatt told The National that the fish served at Kelly’s Fish lounge had been very good.

“They really enjoyed their time”, remembers the restaurant owner. “Mr Hariri was taking selfies with everybody”.

Mr Hariri and Mr Joumblatt often have dinner together to discuss recent political developments.

Mr Joumblatt was a close ally of Mr Hariri’s assassinated father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri. The pair were leading figures in the political grouping against the 15-year Syrian occupation of Lebanon that ended after mass protests in 2005 in the wake of Rafik Hariri’s murder. After the younger Hariri took over his father’s mantle in 2004, the relationship with Mr Joumblatt endured.

However, the pair have not always been so close. In the run-up to the election last year, Messrs Hariri and Joumblatt went months without speaking over an argument regarding the new proportional electoral law to be used for the first time. Mr Joumblatt worried that a proportional system, which Mr Hariri backed, would see the influence of his small sect diminished.

With so much of Lebanese politics agreed in late-night meetings behind closed doors, the media and pundits put significant weight on how regularly, where and with who senior politicians meet.

In the picture, alongside Messrs Khoury and Hariri were Mr Joumbatt and his wife Nora, PSP politician Wael Abou Faour and Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon Nazih el Nagari.

The picture of the dinner led to a flurry of excitement on Twitter that it signified an imminent government formation. “God willing, white smoke will rise soon and Walid Beik [a nickname for Walid Joumblatt] will accept to give up the minister of industry”, one user replied to the tweet. “Blessings to you…We would like you to form a cabinet”, wrote another.  

The next few days will be crucial in determining whether these wishes come true.

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