- MyHeritage’s “AI Time Machine” can generate pictures of what you might have looked like hundreds of years ago.
- Once you upload your photos to the AI Time Machine, it’ll transport you back to World War II, Ancient Rome, and more.
- MyHeritage claims they won’t share your photos with third parties, and that you completely own the resulting images.
Between Open AI and DALL·E mini, fun AI tools are all the rage these days. And now, even companies that don’t have anything to do with AI are jumping into the game.
MyHeritage is known for their DNA testing kits and online ancestry trackers. But they’ve just released a new feature called AI Time Machine, which uses AI to create pictures of you living in all sorts of different time periods.
Here’s a guide on how to use MyHeritage’s AI Time Machine, and everything you need to know about your privacy protections when using it.
How to use MyHeritage’s AI Time Machine
The AI Time Machine is only free for certain users, and only for the first few dozen images created — depending on the promotion in effect, you might be restricted to only 40 images, or up to 160 images. After that, you’ll need to pay $12 for more.
To get started, head to MyHeritage’s AI Time Machine homepage and click Try it now or Try it now for free. You can use your computer or smartphone.
You’ll now have to upload anywhere between 10 to 35 photos of the person you want the AI to replicate. These should include at least three full-body shots, five upper-body shots, 10 close ups, and two side profiles. The photos should also fit a few different criteria:
- The subject of the photo should be the only one pictured
- The photos should be taken on different days, and at different times of day
- The subject should show a “range of expressions,” including pointing their eyes in different directions
- The subject should wear “minimal or no” makeup, and avoid wearing sunglasses
You also can’t upload photos of minors, nude photos, photos of politicians, or photos of Nazis.
Tap Continue, then enter in the subject’s “Title” — this can be their name or anything you’d like — and a Male or Female option, then tap Continue again.
You’ll now have to sign up for a MyHeritage account, if you haven’t already. You can use your email address, Facebook account, or Google account.
And if you weren’t offered a free trial, this is the point that you’ll have to pay. For $12, you can generate twenty different sets of eight AI images, totaling 160 images.
Now it’s time to wait. MyHeritage estimates that it takes between 30 to 90 minutes to prepare your AI-generated images — it only took about 20 minutes for me. You’ll receive an email when it’s done.
Once you get your email, open it up and click the View images link. It’ll take you to a page where you can find all the images the AI tool generated. Scroll down to find them all, or tap a specific image in the collages to see that photo bigger.
To make more images using the same uploaded photos, use the menu at the bottom or left side of the screen to pick a new option.
Is the AI Time Machine safe to use?
For all the hype around artificial intelligence, it’s easy to forget that not all these AI tools are safe. Plenty of viral AI tools use your photos to train more AI tools, retain the right to use your picture in advertisements, or even sell the photos to third parties.
That’s why I’m pleased to report that compared to these other AI tools, MyHeritage’s AI Time Machine is surprisingly ethical in its stated terms.
MyHeritage claims in an FAQ section on its landing page for the tool that any photo you upload stays solely on the company’s private servers, and that they won’t sell your photos to third parties. MyHeritage’s PR director Sarah Vanunu also says that “photos uploaded by a user are not used to train [or] refine any AI algorithm,” just to make your individual pictures.
Additionally, according to the company, once you receive your AI-generated photos, you own them — MyHeritage won’t use them in advertising materials or anything else. Same goes for the raw photos that you’ve uploaded.
However, MyHeritage’s AI is a version of Stable Diffusion, an AI model that’s been criticized in the past for enabling art theft. Although the AI Time Machine might not help train this model, it still uses an engine that’s trained on others’ work without their consent.
MyHeritage also recommends that you don’t remove the “AI” watermark that appears on the images. That’s there so viewers don’t get confused about whether the generated pictures are real or not.
And all this said, if you’re wary about any company saving photos of you — third party or not — you’re better off not using the AI Time Machine at all.
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