TikTok owner reveals artificial intelligence that ‘animates’ images and turns them into videos

ByteDance, the company responsible for the social network TikTok, has introduced a new artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Here is the source: X-Portrait 2A service that can animate static images.

With the platform, it is possible to select someone’s photo or a drawing and ask artificial intelligence to activate it. Conclusion “portrays” the person and imitates movements and facial expressions.

The template used as a reference could be, for example, a famous scene from a movie or even a live performance where someone makes different faces and mouths. Photo-based animation replicates movements exactly in near real time.

ByteDance is developing several AI projects, some of which are directly applied to the Chinese social network. So far it has not specified how it can practically use X-Portrait 2 in its services.

How does this artificial intelligence turn images into clips?

At least according to the clips shared by the company, the system can copy facial muscles, eye movements and even marks on someone’s face.

Rather than using a facial recognition system based on dots that identify each person’s key features, ByteDance’s technique Trained with a large database that captures the entire face simultaneously “implicitly” and taking into account “every little expression” of the face.

Renderings released by ByteDance show the feature has apps Not only on social networks to produce funny and creative posts, but even in the professional world. Studios can adopt the technology to create animations and even create characters with a wide variety of appearances.

Even if, the service seems limited to reproductions lasting a few seconds and photos taken from a very specific anglethe person is framed from the neck up and facing the camera. Additionally, the platform must raise copyright concerns due to the possibility of copying actors’ work and screening the performances and appearances of these professionals. This was one of the issues of the strike that suspended production in Hollywood In 2023.