Young Leia Recreated with FakeApp

Have you heard about FakeApp — a downloadable neural network by a Reddit user known as deepfakes? The tool lets anyone splice images of people onto any clip or image they desire. The app can be used for dirty things, but here is something cool. Another Reddit used called “derpfakes” created something incredible using FakeApp and an episode from Rogue One. 

Here are the results:

The original scene and an alternative version by derpfakes

Do you remember the scene where a young Princess Leia shows up near the end of the standalone film, connecting the film and the legendary episode “A New Hope”. The film had a production budget of $200 million, and John Knoll, the chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic and Rogue One visual effects supervisor, stated that the process of digitally recreating a young Leia Organa can be described as “a super high-tech and labor-intensive version of doing makeup.”

The thing is that “derpfakes” managed to create another version of a young Leia, which looks more realistic! Now you can imagine the power of that app. Here comes the most incredible part. It took him around 20 minutes to complete the scene and he didn’t spent a single dollar! 

He used FakeApp, around 200 images of a young Carrie Fisher and the clip from Rogue One — just like that! He uploaded the images, which were then merged in the app.

Deepfakes is a game changer across the board. Right now people are mainly using it to make dirty videos of celebrities but in truth that will be one of the far less scary outcomes of the tech. Combined with upcoming tech like Adobe Voco, almost anyone can be faked to a high standard. The security implications are sobering.

What is worse is that if I can put together a video in my home that accurately displays a young Carrie Fisher, then just imagine what major tech firms and governments can do. Faked faces are the least of our worries.

derpfakes 

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