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App lets people easily take photos with any dead person they like and bring them 'back to life'

All ELROIS needs is a 3D scan of a person's face

Andrew Griffin
Friday 03 March 2017 17:38 GMT
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A television reporter takes a selfie in front of the pool and cabana during a tour of the former home of Al Capone on March 18, 2015 in Miami Beach, Florida
A television reporter takes a selfie in front of the pool and cabana during a tour of the former home of Al Capone on March 18, 2015 in Miami Beach, Florida (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A new app promises to let people take selfies with anyone they like – including dead people or celebrities.

ELROIS, a South Korean company, only needs a 3D scan of any person's face for its "With Me" app. Once it has one, it can 'resurrect' that person – allowing them to react to what you say and move around, as well as letting you take pictures with them.

The app has been explicitly created to allow people to recreate the image and personality of someone who has passed away, according to its creators. They said that it is a way of overcoming a broken heart by interacting with a virtual recreation of their deceased loved ones.

It does that by creating what it calls avatars of people. Those are really 3D models that are animated and use technologies to respond to conversation and move around.

The company is apparently happy to let users create avatars of people that haven't necessarily given permission. “Avatars could be your family, friends, or even celebrities!” its tagline reads.

And they can then be used to do strange things. If you say "I love you" to the virtual character, for instance, it will reply back to say the same thing. It will also copy its users' movements.

It will even scan the face of a user, and look to see if they look different or if their emotional state has changed. That way, it will be able to tell if someone looks more sad than usual and attempt to comfort them, its creators claim.

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