This may be an unpopular opinion but I’d like to wager a guess that at least a few in this genealogy community will understand when I say that LiveMemory, MyHeritage’s newest AI photo animation tool, freaks me out.

This is not to say that I don’t understand those who enjoy such tools, technology is wild and can be a ton of fun.

But I’m going to be completely honest with you when I say…

I’d like to keep my ancestor’s movements floating within my imagination and on the pulse of my heart instead of dancing on a screen.

Please and thank you.

I want to believe I carry the way my grandma held a pen in her left hand in the way I hold my own and that the tilt of my great grandfather’s head he was curious or questioning is in my blood and bones.

I want to feel the strength of the thousands of women who came before me in my stance and see the rise of my eyebrow as a reflection of every other questioning ancestor who flexed the same muscle.

I want to know my brother’s gait matches my grandfather’s and his grandfather before him.

On and on we stretch, forwards and backwards, alive and thriving in the tiniest of movements passed on through the generations.

AI tools like LiveMemory and DeepNostalgia may be peak technology, but they cannot hold a candle to the magic that dances within each of us, alive in our unique DNA.

I’ll stick with my original photos and genetic code, thank you very much.

Onward,

Melis