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.

As machine learning ascends into realms of superhuman capability, it continues to do impressive and horrifying things with faces. For example: in one of his recent videos, YouTuber and software engineer Károly Zsolnai-Fehér outlines a new AI program that can make restored "super-resolution" versions of historical photographs. Versions that show us what historical figures like Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein really looked like. Zsolnai-Fehér posted the video describing the cutting-edge AI (above) to his YouTube channel, Two Minute Papers. Zsolnai-Fehér, who's made countless videos like this one, notes this explainer covers a recent paper describing Time-Travel Rephotography.