Disney's Research lab has come up with a new automated system that can match various phrases to mouth shapes and make it look like you're saying something you're not.
The system is "literally putting plausible words into the mouth of the speaker" which doesn't sound terrifying at all.
The researchers demonstrated the tech in a video that's not exactly on a par with Frozen, quality-wise. An actor says the line "clean swatches" (which we obviously all say all the time, can't shut us up about clean swatches) and the system synthesizes it into a robot voice which it can then use to search for phrases that use the same vocal and mouth shapes.
Gibberish generator
In the video example, alternative phrases include "die swat saw", "see dick whine a toy" and "dead lube edge it a", which you could record and dub over the actor's face and it would look like he was talking gibberish. Great!
Obviously this has some useful implications for filmmakers, who sometimes needs to change dialogue in films without reshooting whole scenes and set-ups. There's also the potential to use it for better quality dubbing when releasing films in different languages.
Evil dictators may also be interested in capturing political dissidents then releasing videos of them toeing the party line. Who's to say. Either way, hopefully it will lead to better quality Dubsmashes from your brother at 3am.
