October is Hispanic Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the rich and diverse culture, history, and contributions of Latinos in the United States. One of the ways we can honor our heritage is by remembering the icons who left a lasting impact on our society, but who also left us too soon.
What if they had lived longer? What would they look like today? How would they continue to inspire us?
These are some of the questions that Nuestro Stories, a website dedicated to sharing Latino stories, asked artificial intelligence (AI) to answer. Using technology that can manipulate images and videos to create realistic but fake representations of people, Nuestro Stories created a video that shows how AI imagined some of the most beloved Latino icons if they had not died young.
The video features Selena, the Queen of Tejano music who was murdered at age 23; Frida Kahlo, the renowned Mexican painter who suffered from chronic pain and died at age 47; Roberto Clemente, the Puerto Rican baseball legend who died in a plane crash at age 38; Ritchie Valens, the pioneer of Chicano rock who died in a plane crash at age 17; Freddie Prinze, the comedian and actor who starred in “Chico and the Man” and died by suicide at age 22; and Pedro Infante, the Mexican singer and actor who died in a plane crash at age 39.
The video uses photos of these icons when they were alive and applies AI algorithms to generate new images that show how they might look like today. The results are stunning and sometimes eerie, as we see familiar faces aged by decades.
The video is not only a tribute to these icons but also a reflection on how AI is transforming our world fast. It can help create art, entertainment, education, and innovation, but it can also pose ethical, social, and legal challenges. As Latinos, we should be aware of the potential and the risks of AI, and participate in the conversations and decisions that shape its future.
If you want to see how AI imagined Latino icons who died too soon, you can watch the video below.
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If you want to learn more about Latino heritage, history, and origin stories, be sure to visit NuestroStories.com for your daily fix. Nuestro Stories specializes in branded content infotainment that it produces and delivers with in-demo media guarantees to US Hispanic audiences across social, influencers, digital, mobile, and/or connected TV.
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