A smile, a frown, eyebrows raised with surprise – these are all facial expressions that convey an emotion instantly, often speaking louder than words. It’s a fundamental part of human communication, with the power to dictate our perception of what we see. Once you have snapped that expression in a picture, there is no changing it… Until now.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) has been developing rapidly and is no longer just recognising faces. It can now learn to digitally edit the facial expressions in the images too, opening up a whole world of opportunities for businesses.
How does it work?
How can a machine convincingly change a neutral look into a joyful grin? The magic happens in the sophisticated deep learning algorithms. These dedicated AI systems are trained on immense datasets, containing millions of diverse human faces showing a vast spectrum of emotions and expressions. Through analysing all of these examples, the AI learns the intricate patterns of human faces – the subtle ways in which our muscles, eyes, lips, and cheeks move with each expression. Then, when presented with an image of a person, AI can identify the key landmarks of human expression and alter it based on your given prompt.
Applications across industries
The ability to fine-tune images with an AI face expression changer can be used in numerous different scenarios, by businesses of all sizes and industries. Hiring a professional model for product photos or other imagery is not cheap, so organisations typically try to use these images in as many different ways as possible. However, certain campaigns may need different expressions, in which case using AI will save the need to reshoot or photoshop the image (both of which are time-consuming processes too). This way, businesses can always have the perfect visuals for their campaigns, which seamlessly convey the intended mood.
Similarly, in the creative industries, video and filmmakers can tweak an actor’s fleeting expression in post-production, without having to do costly reshoots. This is particularly useful if the shot is already perfect, it just requires a small adjustment to make it consistent with the rest of the scene. The best part is how natural and seamless these edits are, keeping all the unique facial features of the person.
Ethical considerations
Like with any powerful tool, AI face expression changers do not come without their concerns. The primary concern is, of course, the ethical use of the technology. If digital expressions can be so easily fabricated, how can we rely on any images or videos being genuine? How do we fight against the malicious use of this, such as misleading content or personal harassment?
The truth is, the AI technology is relatively new and fast-evolving, so governments around the globe are still figuring out the regulations and copyright rules of AI materials. While the tools themselves are applauded for their innovation and the incredible benefits they offer businesses, it is up to the users to utilise them responsibly. For instance, businesses should only alter images that they own, with the consent of the models in them. Using other people’s images for their own campaigns or, even worse, creating harmful deepfakes is illegal.
AI – the face of the future
The technology behind AI facial expression changers is nothing short of extraordinary. And, while this innovation raises some important challenges regarding the ethical use of AI, it is an undeniable game-changer in numerous areas, particularly the creative industries and digital marketing campaigns.
