The internet really went crazy over the video about how much Millie Bobby Brown looks like Princess Leia in the deepfaked video of this rising star in star wars.
Millie Bobby Brown, a 17-year-old actress, worked her way up the Hollywood ladder with roles in projects like “Stranger Things” and “Godzilla: King of the Monsters.”
However, it looks like Brown has already achieved a bit of immortality through a DeepFake Youtube video. The video showed actress Daisy Ridley from the new Star Wars trilogy deep faked in next to Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things.
Potentially, Millie Bobby Brown is just too famous for anyone to imitate her voice. But, she came out and revealed what’s really behind her deep fake in a video interview.
Let’s check out the full story behind Millie Bobby Brown Deepfake!
Who Made the Millie Bobby Brown Deepfake Video?
CNN said – “it looks like Princess Leia has had at least one line lifted from her on-screen appearance by an AI researcher.”
A new video shows a self-professed AI researcher named Ross Goodwin and a Star Wars fan creating a realistic lip-synced digital version of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia.
The video’s creator, Ross Goodwin, said he used technology called “deepfakes” to create it, which involves machine learning algorithms that can create videos with new audio or facial expressions synced to the footage. He also said the project was not intended to be malicious or sexual in any way but more of a form of curiosity.
But many fans have reacted alarmingly to how easy it is to deepfake videos using existing technology and how realistic they look. The ability to essentially put anyone’s image into a video could have profound implications for privacy as well as politics and society.
Goodwin told CNNMoney that he learned about this technology by watching internet forums where users discuss how they made these deepfakes. So he decided just to make his own version with Princess Leia from the original “Star Wars” trilogy.
Also, the AI researcher added that he used existing footage of Fisher, removed them from the original movies to make the videos.
So What is DeepFake Actually?
The word “deepfake” describes a type of AI-generated video, typically generated using artificial intelligence. You can say an advanced and critical technology today is artificial intelligence and its appliance in media is deepfake technology.
Deepfakes are videos created using artificial intelligence and sophisticated computer graphics to generate videos that look like they’re made from actual footage.
The technology is still in its infancy, but it has already been used to create deepfakes with celebrities like Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Murray, etc.
How Did Millie Bobby Brown’s deepfake as Princess Leia Happen?
It’s not hard to imagine what could happen if DeepFakes were used for something more immoral than creating realistic celebrity deepfakes.
You can imagine a scene from “Stranger Things” where Brown delivers an impassioned speech about the dangers of government corruption or displays her powers as Eleven in an epic confrontation with a Demogorgon.
Actually, it took Goodwin several weeks of work to make a video in which Princess Leia says one of her lines from “The Last Jedi”: “It’s time for the Jedi to end.”
This independent AI researcher added that he heard the actual audio while watching online forums documenting deepfakes and decided that would be his first test subject as a star wars fan.
Additionally, Goodwin said he did not use any photos or actual footage of Fisher to help create his videos. It was all just sounds, images, and voice-over synced together.
Goodwin hasn’t been trained as a coder but has experience with audio editing software like Logic Pro and Audacity, and some experience with how machine learning works in real life as a data analyst.
The deepfaked video takes some liberties with its lip-syncing, but overall it looks surprisingly realistic, especially if you don’t know what you are watching.
If the video is premiered without context or explanation, it might fool most average folks for at least a split second. The CNN app has different ways of showing this video, so we recommend you watch it on the entire website since it’s a bit clearer there.
The Truth Behind Millie Bobby Brown Deep Fake
This young actress revealed that she did not hesitate to use a deep fake technique at all. She even admitted that being Princess Leia was so much fun!
She joked, “I think I’m going to come out of the computer and show you my real face one day,” after people found her videos accompanied by an artificial voice.
Obviously, they are alarmed! But she didn’t worry because no one could imitate her voice even if they tried really hard to do it!
However, Millie said that although she has experienced the deep fake technique’s good, she doesn’t think it’s a good idea to do it with her daily face.
She said, “If I had actual cheekbones like that, I would feel comfortable doing a deep fake and doing a video where I could have my face out there for everybody to see. But for me personally, I don’t think I could get away with it as much as people try to make me think that I can.”
Her co-performer of the movie Stranger Things, Sadie Sink, echoed Millie Bobby Brown, saying that she might never admit on camera how she really looks if she could really imitate her voice.
Sadie said that using such techniques might be fun, but “it would take away the aspect of surprise from an audience when they watch you and hear your voice coming out of Millie. For us, it was pretty funny because we know what our voices sound like, but we don’t get to hear it so often because they are replaced by whatever character there is or whatever video editing strategy there is.”
But before anyone gets too mad at Millie Bobby Brown’s deep fake videos, pause and reflect well on one thing.
What if celebrities start taking on deep fake videos as a joke? Then shouldn’t we all be worried about our privacy being invaded? What if there are video snippets of us doing something wrong when we are at our most vulnerable moments?
That’s why Millie Bobby Brown’s deep fake videos should be treated with secrecy.
Millie Bobby Brown Deep Fake Videos: Will She Accept Them?
In a recent interview with ELLE magazine, Millie Bobby Brown revealed that she thinks about herself when acting in Stranger Things as Eleven. The old saying is: “act like you have no idea what you are doing because nobody else knows either”.
After this interview occurred, it appeared that Millie Bobby Brown had thought about the deep fake videos a lot differently; maybe even accepting them?
She also gave her opinion on whether she should do the deep fake video or not: “I don’t know, I think about it a lot, and I am thinking about it more.”
When Millie was asked if she was scared of doing deep fake videos: “It would be scary because I don’t want to ruin my career or anything–it is just weird to think about.
But I guess if one did come out, I would hate it, and then I could have a nervous breakdown, which might be a good thing for the show! But there is nothing else to gain from it because you really wouldn’t be able to do anything with them anyway.”
Of course, this isn’t an official statement about whether or not she will participate in these deep fakes.
These statements are just a quote from Millie Bobby Brown that shows some interest in the deep fake videos. We might have heard something different if something had come out on them and caused her career problems.
Also, It will be interesting as we move closer to season two how much of Millie Bobby Brown we know–and how much more information comes out.
Deepfakes Might Be A Potential Threat In The Future
The company that makes the original software that Goodwin used, named DeepNude, did not respond to requests for comment.
But Reddit banned the forum where people were posting videos like this one and others that use celebrities’ faces to make hoax adult videos, even though they are generated by machine learning rather than actual nudity.
“It is impossible to control,” the moderator told users in their post announcing the ban. “We will do our best to uphold these principles, but at all times, we need your help! If you see inappropriate content (even if you didn’t submit it), please report it.”
Many online forums also allow users to post video clips to discuss how these deepfakes can be made or just reactions from other Redditors. Many other Redditors are skeptical of this technology and how much people were reacting to it in the first place.
As a result, Tech companies have been addressing how they can supervise content using machine learning or AI technology itself.
Wrap-Up Summary
There’s a growing problem in the tech world known as DeepFakes. The basic concept is to take a subject’s face and graft it over someone else’s, which happened here. It worked, but it was really, really obvious who had her face digitally applied to Princess Leia.
The creator didn’t even bother to make Leia bald or even try to do the diffused lighting we see all over the Star Wars films.
And it’s still better than all these fake adult videos on “those” kind of sites where people put their faces on celebrities.
