'We're going through a big revolution': how AI is de-ageing stars on screen

Craggy, grey-haired and 80 years old, Harrison Ford might seem a bit old to don his brown Fedora-style hat or crack his whip as Indiana Jones. But a trailer for his upcoming film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny offers a flashback to Indy in his swashbuckling glory days. "That is my actual face at that age," the actor explained on CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. "They have this artificial intelligence (AI) programme. It can go through every foot of film that Lucasfilm owns because I did a bunch of movies for them and they have all this footage including film that wasn't printed: stock. They could mine it from where the light is coming from, the expression. Then I put little dots on my face and I say the words and they make it. Having discovered the secret of eternal youth, Ford joked: "That's what I see when I look in the mirror now." He is not the only actor to get a digital facelift with an assist from AI. Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and other cast members will play younger versions of themselves in Here, directed by Robert Zemeckis, thanks to a tool that the AI company Metaphysic says can create "high-resolution photorealistic faceswaps and de-ageing effects on top of actors' performances live and in real time without the need for further compositing or VFX work". Metaphysic's website proclaims: "We are world leaders in creating AI generated content that looks real" and suggests: "Use AI to create your own hyperreal avatar". The company has just struck a deal with the Creative Artists Agency "to develop generative AI tools and services for talent", according to the Hollywood Reporter. Just as the buzzy AI chatbot ChatGPT threatens to upend journalism, speechwriting and school essays, so AI could turn digital de-ageing from something that requires many months of highly skilled artists to something that many people can do in their bedrooms. And as the technology becomes ever more sophisticated, there are fears that deepfake technology could fall into the wrong hands and be weaponised. Olcun Tan, a German-born visual effects supervisor based in Los Angeles, reflects: "We're going through a big revolution.