Publicist Uses AI to Generate Adult Faces of Missing Children
In a groundbreaking initiative, Argentine publicist Santiago Barros is using artificial intelligence to visualize the adult faces of children who vanished during Argentina's military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.
Barros uploads these AI-generated images to an Instagram account named @iabuelas, a blend of the Spanish words for artificial intelligence (IA) and grandmother (abuela). The name pays homage to the activist group Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, which has been searching for these missing children for decades.
While headlines continue to be dominated by tech's ethical quandaries, this is a story that shines a positive light on AI. Santiago Barros has turned Instagram into a digital sanctuary for Argentina's “lost children.”
Barros uses an app called Midjourney to merge photos of the disappeared parents, sourced from the Grandmothers' public archive. The app generates two male and two female facial possibilities, from which Barros selects the most realistic. While the project doesn't aim to replace DNA testing for identification, it serves as a poignant reminder of the Grandmothers' long-standing efforts.
The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo estimate that around 500 children were abducted during the dictatorship, and they have located 133 through genetic analysis. They appreciate Barros' project but emphasize that DNA testing remains the most reliable method for identification.
Some families have been stunned by the AI-generated images' resemblance to their relatives, while others have raised concerns about the technology's limitations.
The project has sparked conversations but hasn't yet led to any formal identifications. Critics argue that the AI tool relies too much on "standardized patterns" of people with European features. The Grandmothers caution that while the project is intriguing, it should be taken with a grain of salt as the results are not entirely accurate.
