Meta has launched a new tool via which children/parents can use to animate their own drawings, having the characters in them dance and attempt some wacky poses through the power of AI.
This sounds like such an adorable idea in theory, it really does. I’m pretty sure that for the most part kids will be very stoked to see their messily scrawled out dog or cat doing a fun little dance to some catchy music. However, the potential problems start to manifest themselves as soon as we realize something: Meta wants to animate drawings made by kids. By literal children with an imagination that adults can’t really comprehend, and a knack for sometimes going off into really disturbing tangents about just the most random things. What Meta is doing is essentially asking such young subjects to go ahead and draw whatever they’d like. Of course, their accompanying website for the project features a video of a cute little cat that starts doing a little wiggle and a jiggle, or whatever it is that 30+ year olds think that kids are into. The more likely outcome for what will happen, however, is the animation of existential nightmares coming through some alternate universe full of Eldritch horrors.
I guess I could be exaggerating, but children have the weirdest ideas. This author isn’t one for drawing from personal experiences while writing a tech article, but my niece has often pointed towards literal empty space and stated that she sees someone. Twice. That’s the sort of person that I’m handing a mouse, my laptop, and saying “go ahead, draw whatever you want, and I’ll bring it to virtual life”. This is just a very messed up version of Frankenstein, except the modern Prometheus in this case is going to end up having 6 extra limbs and more eyes than I’d care to see on anything.
As stated before, this new AI-driven tool is available online, as Meta has yet to incorporate it into any of the company’s numerous social media platforms. It’s powered by the Meta AI Research division, an area dedicated entirely to the expansion of new creative and commercial endeavors, all powered by machine learning. With the Metaverse swinging by, and platforms such as Facebook and Instagram looking into developing more AR-centric tech, “presented by Meta AI Research” is a title we’ll be seeing on the marquee rather frequently moving onwards.
Read next: Meta Is Expanding Its Bug Bounty Program, And Is Now Willing To Pay Individuals For Tracking Down And Reporting Incidents Of Data Scraping
This sounds like such an adorable idea in theory, it really does. I’m pretty sure that for the most part kids will be very stoked to see their messily scrawled out dog or cat doing a fun little dance to some catchy music. However, the potential problems start to manifest themselves as soon as we realize something: Meta wants to animate drawings made by kids. By literal children with an imagination that adults can’t really comprehend, and a knack for sometimes going off into really disturbing tangents about just the most random things. What Meta is doing is essentially asking such young subjects to go ahead and draw whatever they’d like. Of course, their accompanying website for the project features a video of a cute little cat that starts doing a little wiggle and a jiggle, or whatever it is that 30+ year olds think that kids are into. The more likely outcome for what will happen, however, is the animation of existential nightmares coming through some alternate universe full of Eldritch horrors.
Does your child love to draw? Ever wished that their characters could “come to life” and move around the page? Using AI, we’ve developed automatic animation that can bring children’s one-of-a-kind characters to life! Learn more and try it out here: https://t.co/uKDsSHI60H pic.twitter.com/K9KV942dXa
— Meta AI (@MetaAI) December 16, 2021
I guess I could be exaggerating, but children have the weirdest ideas. This author isn’t one for drawing from personal experiences while writing a tech article, but my niece has often pointed towards literal empty space and stated that she sees someone. Twice. That’s the sort of person that I’m handing a mouse, my laptop, and saying “go ahead, draw whatever you want, and I’ll bring it to virtual life”. This is just a very messed up version of Frankenstein, except the modern Prometheus in this case is going to end up having 6 extra limbs and more eyes than I’d care to see on anything.
As stated before, this new AI-driven tool is available online, as Meta has yet to incorporate it into any of the company’s numerous social media platforms. It’s powered by the Meta AI Research division, an area dedicated entirely to the expansion of new creative and commercial endeavors, all powered by machine learning. With the Metaverse swinging by, and platforms such as Facebook and Instagram looking into developing more AR-centric tech, “presented by Meta AI Research” is a title we’ll be seeing on the marquee rather frequently moving onwards.
Ever wanted to see your child’s drawings “come to life”? Our researchers have developed an #AI powered tool that turns children’s drawings into animation in minutes. Hear more about this project from researcher, Jesse Smith, and give it a try for yourself: https://t.co/coHR9kwwBj pic.twitter.com/S72P84qm60
— Tech@Facebook (@techatfacebook) December 16, 2021
Read next: Meta Is Expanding Its Bug Bounty Program, And Is Now Willing To Pay Individuals For Tracking Down And Reporting Incidents Of Data Scraping