Museum creates deepfake Salvador Dalí to greet visitors

The Dali Museum in St Petersburg, Florida has used a controversial artificial intelligence technique to “bring the master of surrealism back to life“. The art museum worked with San Francisco advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners on the Dalí Lives video installation, which looks like it stars the real Salvador Dalí but is actually what’s known as a “deepfake“. Using an advanced form of face-swap, deepfake videos show a personality saying or doing things they have not, in reality, said or done. They rose to public attention in 2018 after Buzzfeed made a Barack Obama deepfake amid concern the technique could become a driver of “fake news“ or misinformation campaigns. The Dalí Museum borrows the technique for a more light-hearted purpose. Its moustachioed deepfake Dalí greets visitors from multiple screens and engages in a short interaction with them. It speaks in a mix of genuine Dalí quotes and invented present-day commentary, and ends by turning around, taking out a smartphone and snapping a group selfie with his audience. The Dalí Museum created the installation to bring the artist, who died 30 years ago, “back to life“ and to help visitors connect to his art in a new way. Read more on Dezeen: WATCH NEXT: Open-source design can democratise healthcare, says Sabine Wildevuur - Subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest architecture and design movies: Like Dezeen on Facebook: Follow Dezeen on Twitter: Follow us on Instagram: Check out our Pinterest: