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Deep Nostalgia™ is an Internet Sensation!

  • By Esther
March 4, 2021
Deep Nostalgia™ is an Internet Sensation!

In just one week since its release, Deep Nostalgia™, our new feature for animating family photos, has exploded in popularity and become an internet sensation. The remarkable technology for animating photos was licensed by MyHeritage from D-ID, a company specializing in video reenactment using deep learning. Over 10 million faces have been animated so far, and a few thousand photos are being animated every minute! 

When we released Deep Nostalgia™ last week at RootsTech Connect 2021, we knew that lovers of family history would be thrilled to see their beloved ancestors’ faces come to life. We also knew that it had the potential to go viral, and we hoped that would happen, but the extent of its success exceeded our expectations. We are humbled by its popularity and we love seeing all the examples shared from all over the world. 

Most of all, we love that Deep Nostalgia™ is creating massive interest in genealogy, especially among the younger generations. 

In the first few days after the release, the overwhelming demand created some initial stability issues. We have been working hard to upgrade our service infrastructure to continue to meet the demand and the situation is now much improved. We apologize to all those who experienced difficulties. For now, Android users who are unable to use the feature through the MyHeritage app are requested to use it online. On the iPhone, everything works smoothly and the MyHeritage mobile app even made it to the top of the App Store, and yesterday it was the most downloaded free app in the United States!

Here are some of the highlights we’ve seen from the past week:

Celebrities using Deep Nostalgia™

American TV host Jimmy Kimmel and his team claim they weren’t very productive at work yesterday, thanks to playing around with Deep Nostalgia™ all day long!

https://www.facebook.com/JimmyKimmelLive/posts/10159019099413374

English actor, Sir Ian McKellen, unforgettable as Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, enjoyed animating drawings of British kings from centuries ago, and animated a very popular rendition of Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde!

Pee-wee Herman can’t seem to get enough of Deep Nostalgia™. Among others, here’s a childhood photo that he animated:

American journalist Jake Tapper tried his luck animating a family member born in 1773!

Some of our favorites

@jlancasterdesigns

Obsessed! This app lets you bring to life your family’s old photos 😭👼 #myheritage #myheritageapp #fyp #oldies

♬ original sound – jakeandshelbyofficial

https://twitter.com/intrepidleeloo/status/1366590888428908546

https://twitter.com/PBinCT/status/1366113499617853449

https://twitter.com/WendyForbesNM/status/1367191927527862272

https://twitter.com/MaryTomillero/status/1367080991089709058

https://twitter.com/yvonnectobin/status/1367108785014267904

More emotional reactions

https://twitter.com/ItsStaceyRees/status/1366290889413439488

Translation: I made an animation on MyHeritage with a photo of my dad and my heart falls to the floor every time he blinks, I still can’t find the pieces!

Translation: All my life I dreamed of seeing my father ALIVE for at least one moment, since I was only 7 months old when he passed away. Today this is possible thanks to the Artificial Intelligence of @MyHeritage. Even for a few seconds, today you were mine! Infinite thanks!

https://twitter.com/SushiBlackII/status/1366875882208526345

Notable historical figures

Here are some famous artists and scientists animated into “living portraits”:

“The hall of deepfake presidents”:

Unexpected uses

https://twitter.com/_obiwan/status/1366588195144691712

Parodies

Some users have inserted their own sense of humor in their use of Deep Nostalgia™:

This one had us laughing out loud! 

Tutorials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjklDav-KIU&ab_channel=ArthurHathRisen

Media

Joelle Goldstein for People.com says that “MyHeritage is helping people experience their family history like never before.”

AJ Willingham writes for CNN: “It’s hard to explain the mix of emotions that spark upon seeing a photo of Frederick Douglass come alive with the click of a button.” She says “And yet, there he is, blinking and nodding as if he were just alive yesterday, as if he hadn’t died in 1895, years before film recording became commonplace.”

The Canadian publication National Post featured an article by Tristin Hopper where he animated photos of some of the most famous Canadians throughout history, such as John A. McDonald. He says “Even the most humourless of great-grandparents can be rendered into smiling and genteel golems.” 

Deep Nostalgia™ was also featured in the Independent, New York Post, Adweek, Design Taxi, and many others.

Conclusion

We are extremely touched by the overwhelming support that we’ve seen for Deep Nostalgia™ in the past few days.

We’re excited to continue improving Deep Nostalgia™ and to enhance it even further in the coming weeks, working on the future of historical photos.

We are proud to help millions around the world bring their family history to life.

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Comments

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  • Ofelia

    March 5, 2021

    Buena app para recordar

  • Ionela

    March 6, 2021

    E super

  • christian Paul

    March 7, 2021

    memories are bring back

  • Marcheel

    March 7, 2021

    Feel good

  • JaneLee Keller

    March 7, 2021

    OUTSTANDING
    Thank You *MH*

    JaneLee ️ – in Suburban Philadelphia
    3/7/21

  • Nabila

    March 8, 2021

    Good

  • Sukma123

    March 9, 2021

    Very good

  • Jane

    March 9, 2021

    God bless