ESTsoft (CEO Chung Sang-won), a company specializing in artificial intelligence services, announced on the 14th that it provided AI human technology for the KBS National Liberation Day special documentary 'The Rose of Sharon Has Bloomed (working title)'.
'The Rose of Sharon Has Bloomed' is a documentary that re-examines the meaning of Korea's liberation through the national flower, the rose of Sharon, and airs on KBS 1TV at 11 a.m. on August 15.
The documentary is drawing attention for its lifelike footage of three independence activists — 'Yu Gwan-sun', 'Yun Bong-gil' and 'Nam Gung-eok' — recreated by ESTsoft with AI human technology. AI learned from the few surviving photographs of the activists and inferred varied expressions and subtle movements to create moving footage.
To do this, ESTsoft extracted refined data that AI could learn from out of existing images containing little information. It then trained the AI to detect facial landmarks using that data, and used the trained AI to generate images of detailed areas such as the eyes, nose and mouth, producing a range of expressions and movements.
The three independence activists rendered as AI humans each speak in their own voice, posing the documentary's central question — whether the rose of Sharon they cherished with their lives is still loved in Korea today — as a way of reflecting on the meaning of liberation.
ESTsoft explained that it took part in the documentary to show that AI humans can be used as a technology that creates social value.
As a leading AI human company, ESTsoft has consistently pursued activities that raise the value of the technology and support its proper use. Notably, it provided AI human anchors to Singapore's public broadcaster CNA and Korea's news channel YTN, and offered technical advice to KBS 1TV's current affairs program by using its in-house AI video detector to determine whether footage had been synthesized.
More recently it has been actively pursuing work that extends AI human technology's positive influence, including applying AI humans to senior care projects run by government ministries and local governments to raise the quality and efficiency of those services, and running projects to improve public education services.
ESTsoft CEO Chung Sang-won said: "It is very meaningful for ESTsoft to be part of a documentary that reflects on the meaning of National Liberation Day," adding, "As a leading company in the AI human field we will keep working so the technology is recognized for its social value and used where it is needed."