Artificial intelligence (AI) has found a new expression in the art of Dutch photographer and digital designer Bas Uterwijk, who publishes faces “recreated” by machine learning technology from a software called Artbreeder.
The operation of the application is simple to understand: it compiles all the information known about a person – not only his physical facial structure, but also geographic and temporal information (place of birth and life span, for example) – to create a figure closer to what your technical conclusions can draw.
The result of this is obvious: ultra-realistic figures of iconic names in history, like the first president of the United States, George Washington, or even more contemporary and well-known celebrities, like rockstar David Bowie, who passed away in January 2016. There's even Mike Ehrmantraut, character played by actor Johnathan Banks in the series Breaking Bad.
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The Messiah, in AI
Certainly, a figure that draws a lot of attention on Uterwijk's Instagram is the “photo” of Jesus Christ. The maximum human figure of Christianity was also the object of recreation by the artificial intelligence software, reaching a result considerably different from what is seen in “saints”, images and statues found in most churches out there. The image was removed from his Instagram profile, but is still present on the artist's personal website, where he maintains his portfolio:
Most modern historians – including some who do not follow religious precepts – agree that Jesus (or someone who comes to be known as Jesus) did exist, positioning his birth in Bethlehem, a region about 10 km from Jerusalem. The Bible itself offers no clue as to his physical appearance, except to mention that he did not stand out from the crowd in any way.
Considering that Jerusalem is located in the Middle East, a man who did not stand out physically from its average population would follow more or less the same body pattern as the inhabitants of the region. In short, the software used by Uterwijk concluded that Jesus was a man with black skin tones and more evident facial features, while the modern representation (largely due to the Roman expression of Jesus Christ) places him as a white man with straight hair. .