When Christian Lösel becomes Robert Downey Jr,

then artificial intelligence (AI) is involved. On Volunteer Day, THI Professor Munir Georges and his team amazed the audience at the Ingolstadt City Theatre with their AI mirror. The event was more than just entertainment. The university staff used it to demonstrate how quickly and easily AI can manipulate images impressively.

Transformed into a Hollywood star: Christian Lösel became Robert Downey Jr. thanks to an AI mirror (Photo: THI).

Traditionally, dedicated citizens take centre stage on Volunteer Day. The city honoured their commitment with a colourful programme and words of appreciation from the third mayor Petra Kleine.

The Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences also took part. Professor Munir Georges joined Shubam Kurlekar, Dr Gerhard Schönhofer and Ola Pleissner in demonstrating an AI process that alters live images of Ingolstadt personalities. Former Mayor Christian Lösel, for example, was transformed into Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr. The campaign was intended in particular to raise awareness of the manipulability of media content. Deepfakes are real-looking media content such as photos, audio and videos that are altered, generated or falsified using artificial intelligence techniques. Although media manipulation is not a new phenomenon, deepfakes utilise machine learning, or more precisely artificial neural networks, to generate fakes largely autonomously and thus on a previously unimagined and impossible scale.

Other areas of application for the software developed by Professor Georges and his team include training for medical or psychological emergencies, online counselling situations with a focus on diversity sensitivity and language exercises, in addition to the educational work described above.

Incidentally, the deepfakes with Silvester Stallone, Jim Carrey, Taylor Swift, and Meghan Markle were particularly popular with visitors.

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