Digital People

What happens when we can’t distinguish between the real and the artificial? On The Digital Life this week, we chat about what happens when we're able to create convincing representations of people, digitally. At the Game Developer Conference last week, Epic Games showed off Siren, a digital character powered by the real-time motion capture of an actress on the stage. The character detail, shading, and lighting was of especially high quality, including realistic looking facial expressions. While Siren isn't quite capable of blurring the line between CGI and reality, the technology is definitely a big step in that direction. The longer term possibilities of technologies like this seem endless: With realistic digital rendering of people in virtual space, it will be possible to digitally capture yourself or your family to potentially interact with future generations. On the other hand, it will also be possible to make it appear as if people said things that they really didn't, further contributing to the deluge of digital misinformation. Join us as we discuss.