Gaby
British filmmaker Duncan Thomsen has introduced famous historical figures — and even cavemen — to the world through the trendy format of selfies.
For decades, anthropologists have struggled to reconstruct what legendary figures actually looked like. Now artificial intelligence might be a new ally.
Thomsen, 53, demonstrated this with an original ‘photo shoot.’ Using the AI image tool Midjourney, he created selfies of Jesus Christ, Cleopatra, Napoleon Bonaparte, Queen Elizabeth I and Stone Age cave dwellers. Midjourney turns text prompts into images and has become a go-to tool for designers. The results exceeded expectations: the images look like famous historical figures taking selfies with smartphones.
Thomsen says it took months of research, the Daily Mail reports. He spent days and nights crafting prompt formulas for the AI, combining historical evidence with photographic techniques.
The gallery turned out to be entertaining, but Thomsen says the project could have serious uses: anthropological reconstructions and teaching history in schools. In his words, it’s “a journey through time without a time machine.”
What selfies did the neural network generate?
Thomsen says everyone he showed the photos to couldn’t believe how realistic they looked.
Here’s Jesus with the apostles at the Last Supper.
And here’s Cleopatra taking a selfie surrounded by her attendants.
Queen Elizabeth and her courtiers laugh in front of an imaginary smartphone camera.
Napoleon and his soldiers at the Battle of Waterloo (Belgium, 1815) look convincing.
Here are smiling participants from the Battle of Agincourt (France, 1415).
The AI-generated image of prehistoric people taking selfies in a cave is one of the most realistic ‘shots’ from the Stone Age.
Midjourney is capable but it does make mistakes. In the Last Supper selfie, Jesus’ and some apostles’ eyes are distorted, and people in the foreground have only four fingers. Similar glitches appear in the Cleopatra and Napoleon images, with some figures showing too many or too few fingers. The man smiling next to Queen Elizabeth I has too many teeth.
Experts warn that while Midjourney is a powerful tool for creatives, some people might use it to produce fake images.
The AI makes images realistic enough to blur the line between real and fake. Recently, a generated image of Pope Francis in a puffy white coat caused a stir online — it was created by AI.
