Superimposing a person's face onto the face in a photo or video. Dating back to the late 1800s, face swapping used analog photographic methods. For years afterwards, images of nude celebrities were actually the heads of famous people superimposed onto photos of nude bodies.
Mobile apps also offer face swapping; for example, Snapchat added it in 2016. However, starting in the late 2010s, AI vastly improved the process.
Faces In Videos
Face swapping is also performed on videos, and the same facial expressions, eye and mouth movements in the video are maintained. Adding voice is not difficult as realistic audio simulations have been around for decades.
Practical Uses
Face swap has amazing potential for making movies and commercials, as faces of people who cannot perform sufficiently can be applied to actors who can. In addition, busy celebrities can license their faces while others do the acting. However, when face swap is done without the permission of the superimposed person, there may be serious consequences (see
deepfake). See
FaceApp.