Synthetic media is a fascinating new field of study that has made significant progress in recent years. This field has the potential to dramatically transform how we produce and consume entertainment.

What Is Synthetic Media and How Does It Work?

Artificially created video, voice, photos, or text are examples of synthetic media, in which AI takes over some (or all) of the creative process. This is part of the larger synthetic, artificial, or virtual reality (photo-realistic AR/VR) landscape. It’s a relatively new and interesting environment.

Deep learning has advanced significantly in academia over the last few years, and generative adversarial networks (GANs) have expedited the evolution of synthetic media. As a result, synthetic media’s quality is fast improving, and it may soon be indistinguishable from traditional media.

Why Should You Care?

Because The Future Is Synthetic. The use of synthetic media in our daily lives will skyrocket in the coming decade. Synthetic media will result in significant changes in three areas: media creation, licensing and ownership, and verification.

Synthetic media has the potential to dramatically transform the consumer media environment and redefine the way we consume and create media. You might be wondering how this is possible. Synthetic media will greatly speed up innovation by closing the gap between concept and content. It will usher in new ways of communicating and telling stories. It will also democratize content creation, allowing us to harness human creativity to its full potential.

Licensing and ownership will both undergo significant changes. Synthetic videos and voices will require new legislation. Actors have always been compensated for their time, physical presence, and personal brand. You’ll be able to make a movie featuring Brad Pitt without having him on set in the not-too-distant future. Who gets compensated for this: Brad Pitt or the behind-the-scenes techies? And how much is it?

Where there is a chance for good, there is also a chance for bad. We must exercise caution with modern technology and verify all forms of media. Deeptrace and Truepic are two companies dedicated to detecting malicious synthetic videos. As the distinctions between what is real and what is synthetic blur, this will become more difficult.

Examples and Applications

Synthetic Reality

Virtual Avatars like Lil Miquela. With 1.8 million Instagram followers, Lil Miquela is the world’s most popular virtual influencer. She films commercials for Calvin Klein and Loreal, has appeared in videos alongside real-life celebs Bella Hadid, and has her own music videos. She, on the other hand, is not genuine. A team of virtual effects artists from Brud created Lil Miquela, a 3D model. Virtual influencers such as her (it?) have grown in popularity and will continue to do so.

Animation/Gaming and Mixed Reality

Given how quickly the gaming and mixed reality businesses are growing, AI tools to produce and edit 2D and 3D animations are on the rise and in high demand. They have the potential to transform the way characters, scenes, and other animated/virtual elements are created. One such firm is RADiCAL, which allows customers to make a 3D cartoon of themselves using only iPhone videos. To create what RADiCAL offers, you’d need a highly expensive motion-capture rig with a bodysuit and motion capture cameras. 

Synthetic Videos

Deepfakes are now the most popular sort of synthetic video. These are essentially face swaps, in which one person’s face is replaced with that of another (for example, Nicolas Cage’s face on Donald Trump). GANs are used to do this. Deepfakes have become practically infamous, which is bad because they may be used for a lot of good. At the Dali Museum in St Petersburg, Florida, a Deepfake of Salvador Dali greets visitors. Normally, anything like this would need hiring a high-priced CGI company, but the only costs here are developers and GPUs.

Under Reality X Synthetic Media 

In this video, our CEO (Andy Berendsen) will take you through these developments, the rise of synthetic media, and practical applications that we will see in marketing, sales, and e-commerce in the coming years.