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AI Portraits Imagine How Celebrities Would Look If They Were Still Alive Today

By Sara Barnes on September 19, 2022

Princess Diana

There are many celebrities who have unexpectedly passed away, long before they reached old age. You can’t help but wonder, what would they have looked like when they were older? Well, ponder no more. With the help of AI technology, photographer and lawyer Alper Yesiltas has created a series called As If Nothing Happened that seemingly brings pop culture icons back to life. Celebrities including Heath Ledger, Freddie Mercury, and Kurt Cobain have aged in a way that appears extremely believable. The generated portraits look like they recently sat to have their pictures taken.

Yesiltas is excited by the possibilities of artificial intelligence. With it, he believes that “anything imaginable can be shown real,” and it inspired him to start experimenting with it. “When I started tinkering with the technology,” he tells My Modern Met, “I saw what I could do and thought about what would make me the happiest: I wanted to see some of the people I missed again in front of me.” Thus, As If Nothing Happened was born.

Yesiltas uses various software to create his images, ranging from Remini, an AI photo enhancer, to photo editing programs including Lightroom and VSCO. They all go into creating a portrait that feels “real” to him—as if the person has transcended his imagination and now exists in the real world. This is not an easy process, nor is it a quick one. But the results are fascinating; and if you’re a fan, they’ll make you miss the person even more.

Scroll down to see who Yesiltas brought back to life (as if nothing had happened).