A new computer program generates eerily realistic fake videos

From Science News.com (Sept. 15):

“The camera never lies” is a thing of the past.

A new computer program can manipulate a video such that the person on-screen mirrors the movements and expressions of someone in a different video. Unlike other film-fudging software, this program can tamper with far more than facial expressions. The algorithm, to be presented August 16 at the 2018 SIGGRAPH meeting in Vancouver, also tweaks head and torso poses, eye movements and background details to create more lifelike fakes.

These video forgeries are “astonishingly realistic,” says Adam Finkelstein, a computer scientist at Princeton University not involved in the work. This system could help produce dubbed films where the actors’ lip movements match the voiceover, or even movies that star dead actors reanimated through old footage, he says. But giving internet users the power to create ultrarealistic phony videos of public figures could also take fake news to the next level (SN: 8/4/18, p. 22).

The algorithm starts by scanning two videos frame by frame, tracking 66 facial “landmarks” — like points along the eyes, nose and mouth — to map a person’s features, expression, head tilt and line of sight. For example, those videos might show former President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Then, to make Putin mimic Obama’s behavior, the program distorts Putin’s image to adopt Obama’s head pose, facial expression and eye line in each frame. The program can also tweak shadows, change Putin’s hair or adjust the height of his shoulders to match his new head pose. The result is a video of Putin doing an eerily on-point imitation of Obama’s exact motions and expressions. [read more]

Disturbing. A good way to frame someone.