Have you ever wondered what your favorite late celebrity would look like if he or she were alive today?
Artist and AI researcher Alper Yesiltas has done just that, bringing celebrities back to life in realistic “photos” complete with age progression details as if they had never passed away.
Lady Diana
The Turkish researcher uses artificial intelligence and other technology to imagine the likenesses of Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, Princess Diana, and others in a series he titled, “As If Nothing Happened.” Yesiltas recently sat down for an interview with My Modern Met and explained how nostalgia and technology inspired him to work on AI aging.
“When I started tinkering with the technology, I saw what I could do and thought about what would make me the happiest: I wanted to see some of the people I missed again in front of me,” said Yesiltas to My Modern Met blog.
Michael Jackson
Heath Ledger
Jimi Hendrix
Freddie Mercury
Tupac Shakur
John Lennon
He uses a combination of different software to mimic the texture of real photographs. They include both Remini, a popular photo-enhancement app as well as the manual editing tools of Adobe Lightroom.
There is no shortage of AI-enhanced age-progression photos out there, but many believe Yesiltas’ is the best and most lifelike to date.
If only these celebrities hadn’t met their fate too early, perhaps they would also be impressed by Yesiltas’ snaps.
