These 'Photos' of Roman Emperors Were Made Using AI and Photoshop

Sculpted busts give us an idea of what ancient Roman emperors looked like, but what if they had posed for photo portraits? That's what designer/cinematographer Daniel Voshart explores using AI and Photoshop in his Roman Emperor Project. After gathering 800 images of busts found online, Voshart used the neural-network tool Artbreeder, historical research, and his Photoshop skills to turn them into photo-realistic portraits of 54 emperors of The Principate (27 BC to 285 AD). "Artistic interpretations are, by their nature, more art than science but I've made an effort to cross-reference their appearance (hair, eyes, ethnicity, etc.) to historical texts and coinage," Voshart writes in a Medium post explaining the project. "I've striven to age them according to the year of death -- their appearance prior to any major illness."