You can be the star of a romantic movie promoting an airline and global travel – or at least your face can, thanks to a new campaign from Qatar Airways. The airline has a new AI-powered adventure campaign that combines a short film and deepfake tools as a way to literally watch yourself take an exciting trip around the world.
You can try it out for yourself here. Simply upload a photo of your face and choose a scene from the movie the airline has prepared. There is a male and a female protagonist; some scenes have just one or both, although you don't have to upload two faces if you don't want to. Once the image is approved, you have to choose your skin tone to make sure the result looks as much like you as possible.
The non-verbal film tells the story of an actress who is finishing a film in London and bumps into a man and her earrings fall off. The man tries to return them to her and travels to places as far away as Cape Town, Tokyo and New York before narrowly losing her. He eventually manages to return them to her at an airport in Doha and the two have their own romantic trip, with a Qatari plane flying overhead.
“Our latest campaign, which incorporates pioneering artificial intelligence capabilities never before seen in the airline industry, not only showcases the innovative spirit that drives our brand, but also encapsulates our customer-centric approach, helping to turn every journey into an adventure,” said Thierry Antinori, Chief Commercial Officer, Qatar Airways. “After all, there are no limits to how far a dream can take you.”
You can watch the original film and a couple of sample edited clips below.
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Advertising magic with artificial intelligence
The modified films are of varying quality. Facial expressions and basic looks are surprisingly smooth, but the fact that the hair remains the same is a little disconcerting, though not as much as seeing your face on a body type that's unfamiliar to what you see in the mirror. It's notable how strict the rules are about which faces you can upload.
The airline doesn't explicitly say that you can't use other people's photos, just that they can't be inappropriate. However, after several experiments, the website clearly banned the use of famous people's faces. The only loophole was if the photo wasn't very high resolution. The reason is probably that you have to own the content (the image) that you share with the website.
In other words, you have to be the star. That's probably because the terms and conditions state that while you retain some rights, Qatar Airways can use and modify the video as it wishes.
This is not Qatar Airways’ only AI experiment. The airline also offers an AI-powered digital human as a cabin crew member called Sama 2.0. The virtual being is designed to help passengers with basic queries during the flight, providing an assistant to complement the human cabin crew.
These ads are definitely a technical step up from the more satirical deepfakes Jennifer Lopez used for Virgin Voyages, at least. In that case, the personalized ads that could be made were only modified in the names and aspects of the company Lopez mentioned.
It's unclear whether this is the beginning of a new era in marketing and advertising, but we can bet there will be at least a few more attempts as AI video technology gets better and cheaper.
