Digital recreations of dead people are on the cusp of reality and urgently need regulation, AI ethicists have argued, warning "deadbots" could cause psychological harm to, and even "haunt", their creators and users. Such services, which are already technically possible to create and legally permissible, could let users upload their conversations with dead relatives to "bring grandma back to life" in the form of a chatbot, researchers from the University of Cambridge suggest. They may be marketed at parents with terminal diseases who want to leave something behind for their child to interact with, or simply sold to still-healthy people who want to catalogue their entire life and create an interactive legacy. But in each case, unscrupulous companies and thoughtless business practices could cause lasting psychological harm and fundamentally disrespect the rights of the deceased, the paper argues. "Rapid advancements in generative AI mean that nearly anyone with internet access and some basic knowhow can revive a deceased loved one," said Dr Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska, one of the study's co-authors at Cambridge's Leverhulme centre for the future of intelligence (LCFI).

Ever wondered what you would've looked like if you were alive during ancient Greek times or were reborn as a nineteenth century Arctic explorer? A new app called AI Time Machine by DNA analysis company MyHeritage is taking the internet by storm, allowing anybody to generate pixel-perfect renditions of their faces in the style of different historical periods. "Using AI Time Machine, you can see yourself as an Egyptian pharaoh, a medieval knight, a 19th-century lord or lady, an astronaut, and much more, in just a few clicks," the company writes on its website. No wonder MyHeritage has a hit on its hands. Somewhat inevitably, after a period of reflection I have decided that once I submit my three contracted books I am leaving academia to become a nineteenth century Arctic Explorer.

It's all very well thinking about what Henry VIII or Tutankhamun would look like if you could yank them into the modern day – but what about going the other way? What would it look like if you hopped into a time machine and met them on their own turf? A new AI tool from online genealogy platform MyHeritage, in collaboration with AI image generation specialists Astria, promises to do just that. Well, not the actual time machine part – that would be much bigger news – but it does at least allow you to see what you might have looked like a few hundred years ago. "Over the past 3 years we released many successful features that use the power of AI to bring historical photos to life," said Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO of MyHeritage, in a statement.

MailOnline has tried out'AI Time Machine', an online tool that can transform you into a Viking, a Greek warrior, an Egyptian pharaoh or even a 1960s hippy. The new feature from MyHeritage reimagines any adult as if they were from another historical era, simply using a small sample of uploaded photos. The science team fed photos of James Corden, Piers Morgan and Drew Barrymore into the tool – and got some rather hilarious results. Corden looks well-groomed and ready for battle in his Viking clobber, while Morgan makes a real mean-looking bandit from the Wild West. Piers Morgan appears here as a Roman empire legionary.

AI Time Machine is a new tool that allows users to create images of a person in different time periods throughout history using AI-image generator technology. Genealogy website MyHeritage announced the new feature that's based on the image synthesizer model Stable Diffusion and technology licensed from Astria, a company that tailer-makes AI image generation. The app, available on desktop and mobile web browsers, asks the user to upload 10 to 25 photos of the same individual taken from different angles. A model is then made of the individual that can be cast into predefined themes set in different historical eras. The person can then see themselves as an ancient Greek warrior, an Egyptian pharaoh, a medieval knight, a Victorian lady, or a hippie from the 1960s.

If you've ever wondered what you would have looked like as a Viking, a Roman warrior or a medieval knight, look no further. Genealogy website MyHeritage has released'AI Time Machine', an online tool that can reimagine you as if you were from another historical era. The new AI tool, available on desktop and mobile web browser, turns personal photos from your phone or computer into'hyper-realistic' images. Anyone can see themselves as an ancient Greek warrior, an Egyptian pharaoh, a medieval knight, a Victorian lady, a hippie from the 1960s and much more. Here, AI Time Machine user'Nathan' appears reimagined as an Egyptian pharaoh, a Viking, a Roman army general and more.

A look back at the computer future: Who would have thought it, deepfakes work. This technically outdated deepfake portrait is easy to debunk. In the future, it will be impossible. Two recent studies show that people can hardly distinguish synthetic media – also called "deepfakes" depending on the context – from original media. With simple portrait images, the distinction is almost impossible.

Last year, genealogy service MyHeritage went viral after introducing a new "deepfake" feature that allowed users to animate the faces of loved ones in still photos. TikTok users posted videos reacting to the technology, called "Deep Nostalgia," as they brought back relatives they never got to meet or those whose loss they still grieved. To date, more than 100 million photos have been animated with the feature. Now comes the next iteration. Today, MyHeritage along with technology partner D-ID is expanding upon "Deep Nostalgia," with the launch of "LiveStory," a feature that doesn't just bring the people in photos to life with movement, but actually has them speak.

When several life-like Tom Cruise deepfakes went viral on TikTok, many saw the future of truth through a glass, darkly -- out of concern for a world where acquiring deepfakes of major celebrities or political figures would become a "one-click" feature of daily life. Like it or not, we live in a world where anyone can interact with deepfake technology. But curating high-end specialized AI drivers -- whether for mischief or raising awareness -- is harder than it looks. The creator of the video -- a Belgium VFX specialist named Chris Ume -- thinks this is unlikely, emphasizing the impractically long timespans and substantial effort required to build every deepfake, in addition to finding an ace Tom Cruise impersonator (Miles Fisher). "You can't do it by just pressing a button," said Ume in a report from The Verge.

Photographs bring history to life, but one service offers a new take on the concept. MyHeritage--a company focused on DNA testing and helping discover their family history--has developed what they call Deep Nostalgia, which uses AI to animate photos of people from the past. Black and white portraits now look like video footage as the subjects shift their glances and blink their eyes. The results are mesmerizing while being a bit unsettling as we don't expect these old pictures to suddenly come alive. So, how does this incredible service work?