I wanted to share with you all my latest obsession, turning old family photos into animations with AI. This all began this past weekend when this picture came up in my Facebook Memories of my parents first date in the early 1960’s. I've always loved this photo, you can see so much attraction in their eyes. They had their entire life in front of them.
I had been hearing a lot about Grok/Imagine over the previous few days so I thought I’d upload this photo and see what Imagine could do. This is the animation it created.
My mind was blown. To me, this felt like possessing a time machine and seeing little glimpses of the past that I wasn’t around yet to witness.
As I began uploading photos of relatives that passed away before I was born in 1971 and it was a little like meeting them, even if for a brief moment, for the first time.
For families, like ours who never could even think of being able to afford a video camera, this is a pretty big deal. Seeing these photos come to life feels a little like magic and illicts a very real emotional response.
I’m almost embarrassed by how much time I spent converting old family pictures last Sunday afternoon. I just kept telling myself I need to convert as many pictures as I can before they start charging some astronomical price for this feature.
Here are a few more of them and a little context under each.
This isn't perfect, yet. It changes the faces slightly but this is only going to get better from this point. I can’t help but imagine (no pun intended) how this tech might progress when AI can produce holographic video from a photo. Those who’re lucky enough to have video of older relatives will be able to create almost an indistinguishable avatar and “visit” with them from time-to-time. We're moving into a strange, new world and I have to say it's not all bad.
All for now. Thanks for reading.
Quite conflicted on this. Could be interesting to use with images of people you've never met. My first idea was to try this feature with a picture of my dead sister. A very specific photo came to mind (don't know why). Fact is I can pretty much imagine her next move because I knew her and I was at that table when the photo was taken. Using AI to 'revive' her would create a fake memory that would then be stored in my mind. With technology evolving at amazing speed, I guess my future grandchildren could invite my avatar at a family gathering, but it wouldn't be me. I think that at some point we might forget the distinction between what's real and what's not.
Your reply is upvoted by @topcomment; a manual curation service that rewards meaningful and engaging comments.
More Info - Support us! - Reports - Discord Channel
That's an interesting way to think about it! I, mainly, was impressed by the animation of the relatives I'd never met but, you're right, it's completely fake.
How wonderful! I heard about this application from friends and was really pleasantly surprised. I made a video with my nephew and one with my dad and they really brought tears to my eyes. It was like having them alive again. I think I'm going to make them with other photos. It will be fun and true, gotta take advantage of it before they put it up for payment. I send you a hug, my friend
It's that connection that's so cool. That's the reaction I got from the first one I tried of my parents. There was something a little magical about it. I read on X that Grok/Imagine was down today. I'm not sure if it was a hack, lack of compute, or a glitch? I hope you're having a wonderful week Nancy!
Nice to go through the yesteryear albums. They are definitely emotional memories, when they are no more with. True that AI has so many wonders to its credit, which is quiet evident from these photographs. I really wish to try something for myself from now on. 😕
You should try it! I have a feeling they'll start charging for it very soon.
Imagine what will AI be like in 10 or 20 years... I think we are in the Dial-Up AOL Internet days with AI right now.
I think you're right. AI will probably be so good in a decade that it'll be able to combine any existing video, online writing samples, etc. to create an avatar that's indistinguishable from the real person.
This stuff is clever, but a lot of the 'AI' stuff is really just toys. I don't know where it will go in the next few years. It will take jobs from people. We have to decide what matters to us.
Mind you, I try to avoid anything to do with Musk.
I'm not sure how much of these LLMs you've used lately but, from what I can discern, they're are way beyond toys at this point. Yes, unfortunately, most human jobs will go away. This is what really worries me about the entire thing. Governments just aren't preparing. Amazon plans on having a, nearly 95%, robotic workforce in the next 5-8 years. Rideshare and food delivery jobs will be vaporized in around 5 years.
Yeah, I'm aware of your feelings about Musk. There are many other options though!
I just meant that we don't really need all this image and text generation, clever as it is. I think we're losing something along the way. Kids will grow up considering normal now.
Oh, yes! It is a little gimmicky. I imagine the fascination with it will die down after a while and people will get bored. These things hit modern culture like a tsunami. Attention spans are short these days!
Wow ! These are wonderful ! I love seeing them.
I have never played with any of the AI programs, but this almost makes me want too. I'd love to surprise my family by including one in one of our family emails. It's kind of like the photos in the Harry Potter films.
They're pretty magical! The one of my friend, me, and my brother in front of the Christmas tree was probably the most accurate from a visual perspective. Yes! Totally like those Potter photos in the movies.
If we could lip read, what would they say?
Definitely poignant - I'm tempted to do some myself, but I'm conflicted.
Don't do it!
There's sound but I turned it off. They just speak gibberish. This is one of those instances where I feel like it's important to try it so we can develop our own sort of personal rules and balance. We'll be immersed in this technology soon, whether we like it or not—unless we go the Luddite route and live in a an off-the-grid cabin in the woods. Sometimes that doesn't sound so bad to me. : )
I hear that!
Don't forget Luddites weren't against the tech, just against the tech that took workers jobs ... Prob splitting hairs I know ...
I didn't realize that about the Luddites! I can a Luddite 2.0 uprising happening again in the next few years.
Technology has become much faster these days and with its help we are seeing many new things that we could not see before and now we are seeing that due to artificial intelligence everything has become easier for us and we are also very happy to see some things. Old pictures are always memorable.
It's progressing so quickly!
Seeing old family photos come to life with AI really does feel like stepping back in time. It’s both magical and emotional, especially when it brings back the faces of loved ones who are no longer here. It’s amazing how technology can make memories feel so alive again.
It's a strange feeling. I have a feeling this is going to get a whole lot more capable.
That's pretty cool. Do you have to give it any prompts or does it just go on it's own to determine the motions? Like did you have to tell it you wanted your mom to try and kiss your dad or was that something in interpreted?
I used no prompts and just let it do its thing.
I love this, but I could not figure it out. I will get one of my kids to show me what to do.
You have to click on the "Imagine" tab once you launch the Grok app. Then just upload the photo(s) from there.
thank you
Nice! What version of Grok did you use? On phone or on desktop?
Grok-4 (free version) on the mobile app.
It is incredible how technology can link us to our history in such a vibrant manner :)
It really is. It's strange how strong of an emotional reaction it can illicit!
Uncanny valley stuff. Death is inevitable - I think that things like these postpone the period of acceptance as part of mourning. It also brings a very different and interesting definition to "The End of History".
Uncanny valley, for sure. Some of them were creepier than others.
Grok's animation feature does a nice job of bringing images to life. I will try it out too on some of our old family photos. A lot of people will want to play with it too, so maybe they start charging hefty prices for using it. I think there are a bunch of interesting possibilities one can do with this stuff.
It's pretty impressive, in some instances. Strangely sometimes it gets it "just right" and others the AI really fumbles.
This is so cool. I’ll try mine out😂
It's fun to play around with.
#hive #posh