Hedra is a new AI-generated video creation tool that has just entered its public beta phase and is free to try.
I’ve discussed many times how AI is going to play a role in curating local and personal history content.
In creating this video, I uploaded a photo of my father. It’s his Navy portrait which is framed and sits in their home. It’s one of very few early photos of my dad.
And, as you know, I’ve spent the past 10 years visiting my parents nearly every weekend and recording our conversations. My dad is not a talkative person, but I have a few of his stories, so I thought it would interesting to upload a recording of him, together with his photo and see what Hedra came up with.
My first reaction is that it’s odd. Hedra knows enough to imbue facial expressions with the emotions that might be conveyed based on the words its given, however, the story my father is telling is funny and Hedra didn’t express that.
The result is also odd to me since my dad’s expressions are part of my life over sixty years time and Hedra doesn’t get that very well. This isn’t my dad.
But at the same time, as a way to create a compelling story of my dad through his stories, I think Hedra and other AI generators hold a lot of promise.
We have already seen many results of historical figures being AI generated into videos and I can’t deny it’s engaging. I can imagine a million scenerios of interactive learning where this kind of thing helps.
For local and personal history, it’s an exciting time!
