AI deepfake Putin film sells well in Cannes

When Russian President Vladimir Putin was unavailable to star in his biopic, Polish director Patrick Vega turned to artificial intelligence.

The groundbreaking film, whose trailer begins with the leader lying on the floor wearing a diaper, uses deepfakes to implant the ruler’s face onto the body of a real actor.

“We needed Putin, not an actor with makeup, to get very close to a dictator,” Vega told AFP at the Cannes Film Festival.

“I called Putin and asked him if he wanted to be in my film… No, it was a joke.”

Director Vega, 47, who has made several hit Polish films, only used AI to create the face because he lacked enough high-resolution images for full-body deepfakes.

The results are supernatural.

The film’s producer, referred to only as “Putin”, says it has already been sold in 50 countries before its premiere in September.

The film follows Ruler’s life over six decades from the age of 10 until he is seen being beaten by his stepfather.

Vega said, “At the end I show his death. A happy ending.”

The initial idea for Vega came during the first days of Russia’s 2022 invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

He said, “First I wanted to make a film about the Russian mafia. Then I decided to make a film about the biggest gangster.”

He dismissed any concerns about retaliation.

“Putin should be afraid of me,” he said.

After developing the technique, he wants to share it with others, saying that directors can send him footage and he can add crowds, actors and many other elements.

Such ideas are a huge source of concern in Hollywood, where AI threatens to eliminate many jobs, especially among special effects technicians and extras.

It was a key issue in a months-long strike by actors and writers last year, which ended in a tough deal with studios that included a promise to pay actors if their AI-generated likenesses were used.

However, many studios are already using AI on a large scale, for example, to age down actors like Harrison Ford in the previous “Indiana Jones,” but have stopped short of speaking openly about it, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Are afraid.

Some uses are difficult to condemn.

The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media developed an algorithm to scan scripts for bias, including how often female characters speak and how many LGBTQ characters there are.

YouTube, a major player in the film industry in promotion and distribution, has been using AI for things like automated subtitles and copyright protection for a decade, and is rapidly expanding the AI ​​tools available to emerging filmmakers.

Since April, it has been labeling AI-generated content and accelerating its detection programs.

“AI is not going to take over creation,” said Justin Rist, head of YouTube France. “It is going to simplify the complex and make the impossible possible.

“We have to be bold and disruptive but also responsible,” he said.

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