One of the more otherworldly AI applications is enabling people to become invisible. Despite the improbability, recent evidence suggests that the world may not be that far away from unlocking actual stealth mode.
If you think about it, invisibility will have several applications if it ever becomes a reality. For one, law enforcement officials will be able to sneak up on suspected to-be criminals before they can victimize someone. The world of espionage will become murkier and even more interesting than it is today. On the negative side of things, stalking, shoplifting, molestation, and other kinds of obsessive and compulsive behaviors by unstable people would probably increase too.
Today, traces of AI can be found in both law enforcement and espionage. Similarly, another one of the several futures AI applications can be unlocking real-life stealth mode for individuals. Here’s how:
By Facilitating Invisibility to Cameras
The first kind of stealth involves becoming invisible to webcams, CCTVs, security cameras and other surveillance-related imaging devices. A UK-based engineer had developed an AI-based software tool that could be used to make someone in front of a webcam lens invisible to whoever is watching from the other end. Through a YouTube video, he demonstrated how the software would clearly separate moving visuals from the static background. As a result, any moving human being would be blanked out and an illusion of invisibility is created for the viewer of the video from the other end. This autonomous identification and separation of static objects and backgrounds, movement, and human presence are possible through computer vision.
In 2020, when the browser-based tool was first showcased, its invisibility mode was not perfect, with the developer’s hair and arms clearly visible on the video during certain moments. However, the application, named “Disappearing-People,” and other similar applications can be of great use in the future to prevent snooping and being monitored with a user’s consent.
By Creating Invisibility Cloaks
This is the second, more fantasy-like type of invisibility achievable with AI. The South Korean-based Pohang University has used AI for the prospective discovery of metamaterials. Such artificial materials have different physical and chemical properties from normal, naturally-occurring materials. Some metamaterials possess artificially-designed atoms that can control the amount of light that passes through them, creating a non-discernible blanket that can “protect” its wearer from being seen. This idea is highly farfetched and needs to go through several conceptual and developmental stages before becoming acceptable for use in applications specified at the beginning.
Invisibility is one of the more fantastical AI applications. And yet, with enough data and testing, it may become an achievable reality in the future.
