Gaby
British filmmaker Duncan Thomsen has decided to introduce the world to famous historical figures and even cavemen through the trendy format of selfies.
For decades, anthropologists have struggled to reconstruct the appearances of legendary figures from the past as realistically as possible. Now, scientists may have a new ally in artificial intelligence.
This was demonstrated by 53-year-old Duncan Thomsen with his original “photo shoot.” To create selfies of Jesus Christ, Cleopatra, Napoleon Bonaparte, Queen Elizabeth I of England, and Stone Age cave dwellers, he utilized the neural network Midjourney. This tool generates images based on textual descriptions and has become an indispensable assistant for designers. The results exceeded expectations: the generated images feature well-known historical figures who seem to have taken selfies of themselves and their surroundings with smartphones.
According to Duncan Thomsen, achieving such an effect required months of diligent research, as reported by the Daily Mail. Day and night, the filmmaker developed a prompt algorithm for the AI based on historical evidence and improvised with photographic elements.
Ultimately, the gallery turned out to be quite amusing. However, Thomsen believes that this experience could be applied to serious matters, such as anthropological reconstructions, as mentioned earlier. It could also be useful for teaching history in schools. After all, in Thomsen’s view, it feels like “a journey through time without a time machine.”
What selfies did the neural network generate?
The filmmaker shared that everyone he showed these photographs to couldn’t believe how realistic they appeared.
Here’s Jesus with the apostles at the Last Supper.
And here’s Queen Cleopatra taking a selfie surrounded by her subjects.
Queen Elizabeth and her courtiers are laughing in front of an imaginary smartphone camera.
Napoleon and his soldiers during the Battle of Waterloo (Belgium, 1815) look quite convincing.
And here are the smiling participants of the Battle of Agincourt (France, 1415).
The AI-generated image of prehistoric people taking selfies in a cave can be considered one of the most realistic “shots” from the Stone Age.
While the Midjourney neural network has proven to be a highly capable AI tool, it does make some mistakes. For instance, in the selfie of the Last Supper, the eyes of Jesus and some apostles are distorted, and the people in the foreground have only four fingers. A similar flaw can be seen in the selfies of Cleopatra and Napoleon: some individuals have either too many or too few fingers. The man smiling next to Queen Elizabeth I has more teeth than he should.
Meanwhile, experts warn that despite Midjourney being a “right hand” for creative individuals, some may use it for nefarious purposes, including creating fake images.
The neural network produces such realistic pictures that people are left guessing whether they are true or false. Recently, an image of Pope Francis in a puffy white coat caused quite a stir in the information space. It turned out to be generated by artificial intelligence.
