Animate Anyone 2: High-Fidelity Character Image Animation

Besides just being really cool, what are some of the clearest use-cases for this?

If this has anything close to usable rigging data (from what I briefly read, it doesn't seem to), this would be a cheap pipeline for generating animations for real time applications out of video references.

As it is, it seems like it might help for video editing and VFX. Being able to isolate out a human being lets you do all sorts of editing with less issues that can then be composited over later for a final shot.

Catfishing

Convincing older people that their children/relatives are in jail/hospital/kidnapped and need money

Disinformation/chaos by faking important speeches by politicians

Fake celebrity endorsements of products and causes

Rewriting historical events with "newly uncovered" footage

Other creative ways of ripping people off and lying

Even though the examples have a clear green-screen effect, I would think some of the tricks/filters they used in old video games to make them look "realistic/cinematic" could work here, then advertisers would be able to plug in a picture of a model wearing their latest outfit to a stock video for social media and digital ads.

Where I work in VFX (RSP) we have an ML department and a lot of what they do is about replacing things in footage (face replacement onto double-actors, de-ageing and so on). What they achieve (that brings significant value) seems fairly adjacent to the tech in the article. Our ML crew have the benefit of a strong compositing department (and other support) that can help integrate the results nicely and smooth over any rough edges. The ML team were nominated for a VES award for their work on Furiosa recently!

> Disinformation/chaos by faking important speeches by politicians

I do wonder what the end game here would be. A race to the bottom where any televised speech is brought into question. I wonder if that would destabilize all power bases to the point that people will finally look at the actions of their politicians rather than their words. Wishful thinking perhaps.

I think that taking political speeches at face value was flawed anyway, so. Maybe someone will finally get tired of this circus and invents Bitrule somehow.

Personalized advertising: you using a new product and visually enjoying it. Blows my mind people do not see this application.

Memes, people will use it for the memes. I saw the NBA footage and yes, i want a gif of me posterizing Ben Simmons.

Deepfakes and porn.

I don't see that application because uBlock Origin filters it out for me.

Was thinking trying to look cool on a dating app

It also makes previz much easier. Stand-ins can run through the shots, including stunts. Then the main actors can be swapped in to provide a clearer estimate of what it would look like.

It could also be used to "upload a picture of yourself" to see how you'd look in an outfit from all angles, walking, and in specific (aka dreamy) occasions.

Influencer promos are the more likely candidate.

100% of the capability could be absorbed by YouTubers looking to improve engagement (read: profit) with more interesting visuals. Since they have a bottomless need for that, this would get widely used within days of a commercial release.

Since we live in a social media age, anything that looks "really cool" has basically immediate commercial applications. Even that phrase should set alarm bells off.

You do but do not realize it. Very few realize how Netflix uses demographic product placements in their media, which I wager you've had and never knew.

Bit disappointing that HN of all places can only focus on the negative uses of this... sigh

Beyond the obvious commercial implications with video content, 2 more use-cases I can think of quickly are:

- disabled people able to communicate more fluidly

- trans people able to express themselves more freely

It was a joke: as though the browser plugin were filtering out not only the ads, but my brain's ability to even imagine advertising.

I do sometimes notice product placement in shows and movies, and it annoys me - though the substitution of fake brands[1] also tends to break the spell, so it's hard to be as dogmatic about the practice as my general aversion to advertising would otherwise suggest. It is not a serious problem in practice, because I don't spend much time watching the kinds of shows where product placement would be relevant.

1: https://www.fakefactory.tv/home/products-n5sdk-rrpnn-zwp33-4...