Nvidia has released its most annoying AI-based software yet. A new camera feature added in a recent update to the Nvidia Broadcast app changes a live stream so it looks like someone is always looking into the camera, even when they’re not. It’s a disturbing feature that made me scream and scream the first time I saw it in real time.
Known as Eye Contact, the feature debuted earlier this month as part of the 1.4 patch for Nvidia Broadcast, software that improves video for live streaming and video conferencing. Nvidia said in a blog post that Eye Contact is for content creators who want to maintain eye contact with the camera at all times, even if they’re looking at, say, notes or script off-screen. Now that it’s been out for a few weeks, we have a better idea of what it can do.
In an interesting feature demo posted on Twitteryou can see scenes from jurassic park edited with Eye Contact so the actors are still (mostly) looking at the camera. It’s weird and off-putting! Probably even if you’ve never seen the movie before! It’s as if the person were so preoccupied with whether or not they could make them not stop to think if they should…
I went on a video call with a colleague from Polygon to see Eye Contact in action for myself. It was strange, even though I looked at my colleague all the time. I think that’s partly because totally uninterrupted eye contact doesn’t feel natural or normal if you’re having a casual conversation. Also, the software isn’t perfect – Nvidia says it’s in beta stage – so at times it would turn its head and stare to the side, and its eyes would go back to looking directly at the camera; he looked like he was a possessed character from a horror movie.
The Eye Contact feature is another example of AI becoming readily usable by everyday consumers. ChatGPT, which can be used for a variety of applications like essay writing, has become an overnight sensation due to its natural language output. Other software like DALL-E, Midjourney and Free AI Art Generator are used to create memes and recreate the look of some directors’ films.
If you too want to use this dark AI magic, just download Nvidia Broadcast – although your computer will need some hardware for this to work, including an Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics card; you can view the full system requirements here.
