Deepfakes videos are one of many tech boogeymen promising to haunt humanity in the new decade. In fact, they’re so scary, even the Freddy Krueger of the tech world Facebook is dropping the ban hammer.

So far Deepfake videos have been used to make it appear as if people are saying or – in the worst cases – doing things they haven’t, but the tech has been mostly limited to those with the requisite knowhow to use it.

However, a new app called Doublicat will enable the average smartphone owner to superimpose their own face onto any GIF they can lay their paws on, in just a matter of seconds. You can make yourself Chris Pratt’s ‘surprised’ face, Jennifer Lawrence’s ‘OK’ face, or even Leo toasting with a martini glass.

The app is available for both iOS and Android requires users to simply take a selfie and then choose a GIF file in order to magically replace a face in the original image with your own.

While the ramifications of the tech appear to be a little less serious and just a bit of fun, it does lower the entry level for those to experiment with the trickery.

A report from The Next Web points out the tech used is familiar. IT uses the GAN-based Reface AI akin to the Reflect face-swapping application. However, the CEO of the firm behind the app says it doesn’t need a 3D model of your face in order to create the new image.

“In most of the deepfakes, they use the approach that we put to rest more than a year ago. I’m talking here about 3D masks, face reconstruction and texture blending. This solution can work only with previously collected and preprocessed content. And can be unstable in facial expressions and turns.”

The company does point out the app deletes the photos of the person immediately after they’ve been processed, while promising to “store only face embeddings.”

Chris Smith

Chris Smith is a freelance technology journalist for a host of UK tech publications, including Trusted Reviews. He's based in South Florida, USA. …