TThe internet reacted strongly to an artificial intelligence-generated video of Leonardo da Vinci's famous theme mona lisa A picture of actor Anne Hathaway singing along to a rap she wrote and performed.
This controversial clip, which has sparked a variety of reactions online from humor to horror, is one of the tricks of Microsoft's new AI technology, called VASA-1. This technology can generate a lifelike talking face of a virtual character using a single image and voice audio clip. The AI can make cartoon characters, photos, and paintings sing and talk, as evidenced by footage published by Microsoft as part of a study published on April 16.
The most talked about clip is mona lisa The painting sings and its mouth, eyes, and face move to the rap song “Paparazzi,” which Hathaway composed and performed on Conan O'Brien's talk show in 2011. Another of her Microsoft clips features an avatar singing, and other clips generated from real photos feature people singing. Talk about common topics.
The video quickly gained attention online. On April 18, one of her posts on X (formerly her Twitter) featured her singing voice. mona lisa The clips had been viewed 7 million times as of Sunday.
The online response was swift, strong and across the board. Some people enjoyed the clip, with one commenter posting: mona lisa In the video, they were “rolling on the floor laughing.” Others were more alarmed or agitated. “This is wild, weird and creepy,” said one. “Another day, another horrifying AI video.” another lamented. “Why does this need to exist? I can't think of anything positive,” one commenter criticized.
Citing the risks of new technology, Microsoft researchers said they do not plan to release online demos or products “until we are confident that the technology will be used responsibly and in accordance with appropriate regulations.”
“It is not our intent to create content to mislead or deceive,” the researchers wrote. “However, as with any related content generation technology, there is still the potential for it to be misused to impersonate humans. We are also interested in applying our technology to advance counterfeit detection.”
“While recognizing the potential for abuse, it is essential to recognize the significant positive potential of our technology,” they said. “Benefits such as improving educational equity, increasing accessibility for individuals with communication difficulties, and providing companionship and therapeutic support for those in need make our research and other related pursuits important.” We are committed to developing AI responsibly, with the goal of advancing human well-being.”
The latest developments in AI come as governments around the world rush to legislate to regulate the new technology and prevent its criminal misuse.
One example is deepfake pornography, where a person's face is superimposed onto an explicit photo or video without their consent, an issue that also affected Taylor Swift earlier this year. In the US, 10 states have criminalized deepfakes, but federal law does not, and multiple bills have been introduced in Congress to correct this.