Globo uses artificial intelligence and makes wheelchair users walk – 04/14/2024 – Television

Rio de Janeiro

In 2024, it will be 20 years since Luciano Mallmann, 53, suffered a tragic accident that left him paraplegic. A wheelchair user since then, the actor appears walking in the series “Justiça 2”, which premiered this week on Globoplay, Globo’s streaming service. Miracle? None of that.

The explanation involves artificial intelligence, according to Manoela Zozimo, drama coordinator for the broadcaster’s technology team. She explains that AI was used to improve a digital image manipulation process and place the actor’s face on a stunt double’s body, so that he could perform walking scenes.

In the plot, Mallmann is Cassiano, a former swimmer who loses the movement of his legs after a violent attack. The actor appears both in scenes in which the character is already in a wheelchair and in those that show him before becoming a paraplegic.

“The story had a character who, at some point, becomes paraplegic. And we wanted to tell this story from the actor’s perspective, for him to participate in the entire process”, explained Zozimo. “So we used a technology that we already know, which is deepfake, but which was super improved, and we were able to make this story viable from there.”

For her, the “icing on the cake” is when generative artificial intelligence can be linked to the creative process. “The machine learns all the movements and reads this actor, so that we can insert the face of our actor in a wheelchair into the stunt double so that the entire story is told by him, through his own performance, inserted into the actor’s face. our stunt double,” he said. “In the traditional model, we had a lot of difficulty doing this, because it took a lot of time and was very expensive.”

Author of the series, Manuela Dias said that both she and artistic director Gustavo Fernandez really wanted the character to be played by an actual wheelchair user. “We really believe that diversity has to go beyond all limits and that everyone has to feel represented,” she comments. “And we, at the same time, of course, wanted a great actor.”

Mallmann, who said goodbye this week to the character Carlinhos from “Elas por Elas” —a soap opera he recorded after the end of “Justiça 2″—, was introduced to the duo by casting producer Marcella Bergamo after they expressed their desire. “Achieving a diverse cast is the result of a lot of investment on the part of the company”, highlights Dias.

OTHER USES

According to Manoela Zozimo, artificial intelligence has also been used to facilitate work in other fields within Globo. “Today, Globoplay already has 40 episodes of series with audio description made 100% with artificial intelligence,” she stated.

“It wouldn’t be possible to do it without AI. Not in this proportion, not on this scale, not for us to be able to deliver the quantity that we will need to deliver, because it’s one thing for me to look and think about a program, it’s another thing for us to think about a whole grade”, assessed the coordinator.

Zozimo was one of the participants in the panel on AI and new technologies at Festival Chega, promoted by Globo for around 500 partners and guests. Also present were Fernanda Jolo, leader of Google Cloud’s artificial intelligence technical team for Latin America, author George Moura (“Onde Está Meu Coração”) and director Fábio Mendonça (“Cangaço Novo”).

The presentation was by journalist Aline Midlej, who made a small gaffe at the beginning of the panel. She was supposed to interact with a supposed reporter, called Lígia Melo, who would be talking to her live from another place. However, it was a virtual figure, created by Globo’s technology team.

As Midlej was late in speaking, the character ended up answering a question before the journalist even managed to finish asking it. “Lígia has its limitations. We here are unlimited in our sensitivity, in our ability to create”, she improvised.