Images generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been making waves recently, and now one Turkey-based artist has used this technology to bring back celebrities from the dead. Photographer and lawyer Alper Yesiltas used AI technology to imagine what celebrities, including John Lenon, Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson, would look like if they were still alive.
Michael Jackson, who began to alter his appearance in the mid-1980s, died at his Los Angeles home in June 2009 at the age of 50.
Taking to Instagram, Mr Yesiltas shared his collection of the project, titled "As If Nothing Happened". "With the development of AI technology, I've been excited for a while, thinking that 'anything imaginable can be shown in reality'," he wrote about the project in his blog.
Actor Heath Ledger died at the age of 28 as the result of an accidental drug overdose in January 2008.
"When I started tinkering with technology, I saw what I could do and thought about what would make me the happiest. I wanted to see some of the people I missed again in front of me and that's how this project emerged," the artist added.
Actor Paul Walker died in a car accident in November 2013 at the age of 40.
He stated that the hardest part of his creative process was to make the image "feel real". "The moment I like the most is when I think the image in front of me looks very realistic as if it was taken by a photographer," he said.
British singer-songwriter Freddie Mercury died in November 1991 at the age of 45.
Further, Mr Yesiltas informed that to create the images, he used software like the AI photo enhancer Remini and photo editing programs like Adobe Lightroom and VSCO. He created portraits of celebrities such as Princess Diana, Freddie Mercury, Paul Walker and Tupac Shakur.
Beatles singer John Lennon was fatally shot on December 8, 1980, at the age of 40.
The similarity between each of the celebrities featured in Mr Yesiltas' project is that they all died at a young age and under tragic circumstances. According to him, "Behind this project lies the question of 'how would people look if some great events had not happened to them'".
Tupak Shakur was murdered when he was 25, on September 13, 1996.
Mr Yesiltas wants to now extend the "As If Nothing Happened" project, but in a very sensitive way. However, he said that the process is a little bit slow. He also intends to continue using the same AI bot that he developed, and come up with images for projects like "Life in 2050" and "Alternate Museum".
English singer Amy Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning in 2011 at the age of 27.
AI-generated art has become quite popular on the internet. Today, many artists and designers are using AI technology to create dynamic images, videos, and interactive content. There are several applications and tools widely available that allow users to create such pictures by simply entering the text or phrase in AI text-to-image generators.
