Technology is amazing. It gave us texting, Skype, and Snapchat filters. So why on earth are we using it to turn beloved childhood images into downright bone-chilling nightmares?
For some reason, researchers at CSIRO's Data61 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab have used artificial intelligence to create a "Nightmare Machine." Currently, the machine is still "learning," and we can confidently say it's doing a great job.
According to Mashable, the AI creates these images using a "spooky formula," which is a combination of algorithms. The machine both takes the visual style from one image and adds it to another, as well as creates faces. What you get is this mess that will keep you awake at night.
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"We use deep learning algorithms to learn first how haunted houses, then ghost towns, and more recently toxic cities look," said Data61 principal research scientist Manuel Cebrian in a post. "Then, we apply the learned style to famous landmarks. It's surprising how well the algorithm can extract the element from the 'scary' templates and plant it into the landmarks."
These already seem scary enough, but the machine is still learning. If you dare, venture over to the website (which comes with the disclaimer: "Images on this website are generated deep learning algorithms and may not be suitable for all users. They contain scary content.") where users can vote on the scariest faces to help the machine get better. Or is it worse?