A number of programs have been made available in recent years which use AI to modify videoconferencing throughout real-time to ensure that the caller is looking directly into the camera. FaceTime is capable of doing it. It's possible with Microsoft Teams. Nvidia Broadcast can also accomplish this. (Provided you have the required hardware or software in each instance.)

Of course, there are many intriguing questions that come with this technology. e.g., is maintaining unbroken eye contact beneficial or a little creepy? Can those who naturally avoid eye contact benefit from these tools? Or is everything mentioned here merely the tip of a wedge that has been labelled, hypothetically speaking, 'the rising use of AI to generate a more refined digital edition of themself is making a contribution to an enhanced sense of isolation and loss of identity'?

That last query has a 'yeah, probably' response from me. But set aside that intellectual garbage for the moment; this is the silliest and best application of this technology to date: composing movie scenes so that actors look directly into the camera.

Daniel Hashimoto, a VFX expert well-known for his Action Film Kids YouTube channel and weekly talk show on the business, is the form's master. From his Twitter, here is some of his finest work:

Hashimoto told us in a Twitter DM that he simply connected his web browser to Nvidia's Broadcast software, which provides the feature and performs all the preparation in real-time, to produce the clips. He claims that as a specialist in visual effects, the outcomes astounded him.

'The technology is amazing from a technical standpoint. Real-time tracking and excellent lighting and colour matching, according to Hashimoto. 'I even found out that the effect animates in and out, respects a person's head direction, and will correct the eyes if the person is looking just off-screen, but will not do so if the individual is clearly turning their head and looking somewhere else. I have no doubt that within the next few months, this will be a feature of every videoconferencing tool.

He emphasises that 'this couldn't be further from the truth' and notes that some viewers mistook his edits (especially to an incident from The Bear, second above) as an effort to 'improve' the original.

This performance, this show, and this scene are transcendent, and it was pretty sacrilegious to have used them, as I stated online, according to Hashimoto. He added ironically that viewers who were offended by the video could call into his live show the following day to discuss it.