What do you get when you take artificial intelligence and add some horror? A Nightmare Machine of course!
Warning: some creepiness up ahead!
What exactly is Nightmare Machine? No, it's not a rampaging haunted robot coming to get us (although that would be spooky). It's a computer program that's learned to use photos of things and turn them into something creepy.
Scientists from MIT have used deep-learning algorithms to manipulate faces and famous places. They are trying to answer the question, “Can Machines learn to scare us?” with some terrifying results.
The program uses existing pictures, and dials up the spookiness a few notches by adding things that humans think are scary. It looks like it's been taking already distorted faces, added some blotches of blood-red colour and unkempt hair, and added (or removed!) misshapen facial features. If you want to aid the program in identifying what's scary or not scary - it can learn from your input too!
The famous landmarks are given a bit of a different treatment, They are re-done in a particular learned 'style’. For example, there's the Colosseum in a 'Haunted House' style, a 'Slaughterhouse' -style Taj Mahal, and the Sydney Opera House as a 'Ghost Town'.
Now, imagine the scary faces in these spooky places and you've got a recipe for ultimate creepiness!
There's even a fun timeline which explores key points in history where artificial intelligence and creepy things have coincidentally crossed paths. I guess the time for machines to learn how to scare us would eventually happen, is now the time?
Imagine what would be achieved by continuing to combine technology and horror entertainment. How about combining a computer that learns what each individual finds scary, and tailors a virtual or augmented reality experience based on someone's fears - now that would be scary!
It's a bit of Halloween fun, but the scaredy-cat in me is asking; should we really be teaching artificial intelligence how to take advantage of our deepest fears?
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