There is a place, in our minds, where the fondest memories dance like fireflies on a summer night. Often, however, when we try to grasp them, those moments slip away, leaving us with a sense of nostalgia for what was and which we will never be able to relive, as we would by looking at photographs. Or maybe yes?
Thanks to a revolutionary AI-based technology, today we can transform those evanescent memories into tangible photographs, to browse every time we want to relive a special moment.
A visionary project: Synthetic Memories
Imagine if we could see our grandmother's smile again in a photograph, even if no one ever took that photo. Or being able to show our children the image of our first kiss, captured in pixels despite the absence of a camera. This is exactly what he is trying to accomplish Synthetic Memories, a pioneering project driven by the startup Domestic Data Streamers.
Their mission? Using artificial intelligence to create "memory snapshots" starting solely from people's memories extrapolated from brain data.
How do you take photographs of a memory?
The process of creating these synthetic photographs is as fascinating as it is innovative. Synthetic Memories researchers use sophisticated AI models, such as DALL-E2, and “feed” them with data extracted directly from the human brain. Through a neural interface, memories are “read” and translated into input for AI, which then generates a surprisingly detailed and realistic image of the remembered event.
Obviously don't expect perfect and crystal clear photographs, at least not with current knowledge. The creators of Synthetic Memories have indeed intentionally chosen to use older AI models, precisely because the imperfections and nuances present in the images generated reflect the very essence of human memories.
After all, when we recall a moment from the past, we rarely visualize it with absolute clarity. It is precisely those blurriness, those small inaccuracies, that make memories authentic and precious.
A case study: Maria's memories
84-year-old Maria, a resident of Barcelona, is one of the people who has already benefited from this amazing technology. Maria shared with the Synthetic Memories team a particularly vivid memory from her childhood: attempts to glimpse her father, who was locked up in a prison across the street from their house. Thanks to AI, that memory was transformed into a touching photograph that portrays Maria, a child, looking out from her balcony while she tries to see the face of her father.
Maria's emotional reaction to the image generated confirms the authenticity and power of this technology in capturing the essence of our most precious memories.
Memory photographs: challenges and future prospects
The Synthetic Memories project has to deal with a significant challenge: the risk that AI companies, such as OpenAI, decide to "retire" their older models. If this were to happen, the team would be forced to use more advanced models, which could generate images that are too "perfect", and therefore less faithful to the authentic and imperfect essence of human memories.
Despite these unknowns, one thing is certain: the advent of AI-generated “memory photographs” could represent a turning point in our relationship with the past. This technology offers us the possibility of preserving and reliving precious moments that would otherwise be destined to fade over time, giving us a tangible bridge between the present and the past.
Perhaps in the not too distant future, leafing through the album of memories will mean immersing yourself in a gallery of images (re)generated by AI (I say this to avoid any misunderstanding. I call them photographs, but I should say syntographies).
Will they be images capable of bringing to life, with surprising realism, the most significant moments of our lives? Or just fake high-definition déjà-vu? We'll see. And then we will remember it.
