Video calls in the uncanny valley

nVidia has figured out a clever way to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth, and it's pretty wild. Instead of compressing the video of your face into a traditional codec, they are using machine learning to essentially create a "realistic" simulation of your face. You have to see the demo to appreciate the strangeness of the final result. It's both realistic and unnerving, something definitely feels a bit off.

Some designers have started using a service which generates simulated human faces in mock ups (no need to ask permission!), and it has a similar uncomfortable effect.

The Uncanny Valley: In aesthetics, the uncanny valley is a hypothesized relationship between the degree of an object's resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to such an object. Wikipedia.