Rosebud AI's GAN photo models

None of these models exist. (Rosebud AI)

Rosebud AI uses generative adversarial networks (GANs) to synthesize photos of fake people for ads. We’ve of course seen a lot of GAN face generation in the past (see DT #6, #8, #23), but this is one of the first startups I’ve come across that’s building a product around it. Their pitch to advertisers is simple: take photos from your previous photoshoots, and we’ll automatically swap out the model’s face with one better suited to the demographic you’re targeting. The new face can either be GAN-generated or licensed from real models on the generative.photos platform. But either way, Rosebud AI’s software takes care of inserting the face in a natural-looking way.

This raises some obvious questions: is it OK to advertise using nonexistent people? Do you need models’ explicit consent to reuse their body with a new face? How does copyright work when your model is half real, half generated? I’m sure Rosebud AI’s founders spend a lot of time thinking about these questions; and as they do, you can follow their along with their thoughts on Twitter and Instagram.