Microsoft VASA-1 AI turns photos into lifelike talking videos, and it’s insane

Microsoft's latest generative AI product just blew my mind by doing something I didn't think was possible. VASA-1 can combine a single image with one audio clip and turn it into a video of a person talking. It's not just the lips moving to match the audio... it's the entire face. The head movements, the changes in gaze, even the facial expressions you'd expect from someone telling a story — they're all there.

Considering where we are with genAI, I always knew that a tool like this was imminent. After all, OpenAI has a text-to-video product that looks incredible in demos. That's Sora, which will be available to the public until later this year. OpenAI also developed technology that uses AI to replicate the voice of someone after listening to it for only a few seconds.

It was only a matter of time before a company came up with a way to turn a portrait image or a selfie into a video of someone talking. The animated person in the video can be made to say anything you want in any voice, as long as you have an audio clip to train the AI.

I know what you are thinking, and it was the first thing that crossed my mind, too. This AI technology is incredible, but it's also very dangerous. It invites anyone to generate misleading videos. Thankfully, Microsoft makes it clear from the get-go that VASA-1 will not become a publically-available product like ChatGPT or Copilot. That is, you won't be able to impersonate celebrities and have them say whatever you feel like. At least, not with VASA-1.

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