NVIDIA uses deep learning to generate extremely realistic looking faces

[colonel_mortis]

Source: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1812.04948.pdf (an academic paper, so it goes into a lot of technical detail)

A more accessible source (published since this post) is https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/17/18144356/ai-image-generation-fake-faces-people-nvidia-generative-adversarial-networks-gans

 

NVIDIA has developed a new architecture for using machine learning to generate images (specifically a new architecture for generative adversarial neural networks) which produces incredibly realistic looking images, passing the uncanny valley.

 

All of these pictures are computer generated - they aren't photos, and none of them are real people.

 

In generative adversarial networks (the type of machine learning that has been used here, and also used by deepfakes), there are two neural networks - one which generates images, and one which evaluates them. The evaluation side is trained on a collection of real images, so it learns to tell whether an image looks good. The evaluator can then be used to test how good the generator is, so the system can tweak parameters in the generator and test how much of an improvement they have made.

 

The changes described in the paper affect the generator. Instead of having a single complex black box that learns how to satisfy the evaluator directly, it's split into two parts. As I understand it, the first part generates features, such as hair style, beard, glasses, skin colour, face shape, etc, then the second part produces images from those features. This means that the whole image is based on one "description" of the face, so everything fits together. Because the network has learnt to only produce descriptions that produce realistic looking faces, it doesn't generate child faces with beards, or square faces, and everything fits together.

 

Note that I'm not an expert on GANs or machine learning, and my understanding of the paper is fairly superficial, so I may well be misunderstanding parts of how it works. If you know more, please do correct me.

 

They have also published a very impressive video which shows how powerful this approach is

 

This is some really cool technology, and the images that it's producing look impressively realistic. Images like these would previously have taken a lot of manual effort to manufacture, and now all you need is some computing power (though probably quite a lot of power is needed at the moment). Deepfakes caused controversy last year when similar technology was used to make fake celebrity porn, and as the technology improves further it is becoming harder and harder to believe things you see in videos.

Edited December 18, 2018 by colonel_mortis
Added Verge source

[LAwLz]

Super cool and impressive technology. 

I'm a bit worried about what malicious things this can be used for though, and what legal implications might arise. 

[LukeSavenije]

That's pretty impressive, but also kinda scarry...

[leadeater]

9 minutes ago, colonel_mortis said:

All of these pictures are computer generated - they aren't photos, and none of them are real people.

This is freaky, awesome but unsettling.

[leadeater]

Found the most important part, it can do cats.

 

[Spotty]

Catfishing just got a lot easier.

 

5 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

RIP people section of stock photo companies ._.

Just wait until they can do real time video generation and the porn industry ends.

[WereCat]

FakeApp NVIDIA version ^ 99

Thats really cool

[leadeater]

1 minute ago, VegetableStu said:

porn industry without needing actors though o_o

Well that went there fast

[WereCat]

2 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

porn industry without needing actors though o_o

Why? This seems to know only to generate faces

[Spotty]

Just now, WereCat said:

Why? This seems to know only to generate faces

Rule 34.

[GoldenLag]

2 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

porn industry without needing actors though o_o

computer generated porn would make the industry just turn into another mining graze.

[leadeater]

Just now, WereCat said:

Why? This seems to know only to generate faces

Watch the video, it can do cars, cats and rooms etc

[GoldenLag]

how long untill we can computer generate infinite amounts of isekai mangas?

 

wait, we allready have that. its called Japan

 

 

inb4: That time i got reincarnated as a turing GPU making computer generated porn scenes

[captain_to_fire]

ML and AI is quite a double edged sword 

 

[colonel_mortis]

13 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Found the most important part, it can do cats.

 

This is the set of cats from the paper. Apparently they trained it on some memes too...

Some of them don't look so great, but it's still damn impressive.

13 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

rightmost column second from bottom: o_0

 

EDIT: i know it's quick and dirty, but they should focus on cat breeds ._. all these cats look the same

There is some more variety in the full set

[Spotty]

8 minutes ago, colonel_mortis said:

This is the set of cats from the paper. Apparently they trained it on some memes too...

Some of them don't look so great, but it's still damn impressive.

inb4 they forgot to do their research work and the night before it was due just grabbed some stock face photos and the top google image results for "cat" and crammed them in to a report and claimed they were computer generated...

[CTR640]

Inb4 nVidia introduces new GPU's: FTX4000 series. Just like with RTX but now FTX. You'd need FTX4080Ti to render pretty realistic faces at 1080p30 and it will cost you $4000 and your firstborn and both of your nuts.

 

While it is impressive indeed, it's also scary AF.

[Arika]

So does this just generate an image or a 3d model that can be used in movies/tv etc?

[Cyberspirit]

1 hour ago, leadeater said:

Found the most important part, it can do cats.

 

That's amazing! I can already see the future where we will have dedicated supercomputers just to generate cute cat pictures and videos.

[Drak3]

That's alot of time and money to do what we've been able to do for years.

[BananaInSandals]

1 hour ago, Spotty said:

Just wait until they can do real time video generation and the porn industry ends.

Try Deepfake. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) It's nearly there.

[LAwLz]

4 hours ago, Drak3 said:

That's alot of time and money to do what we've been able to do for years.

Can you link me to other computer generated models which looks as realistic? And I mean computer generad as in the computer came up with the design and rendered it. 

[PlayStation 2]

sorry bud, valve beat ya to the punch /s

[Nicnac]

this stuff is so cool. wish I had time to learn about it

[Tech_Dreamer]

8 hours ago, leadeater said:

Found the most important part, it can do cats.