Skip to main content

Amazing new video tweaking program lets users edit a person's lip movements in real time

Thanks to rampant photo editing and fake images circulating the web these days, photographic evidence isn’t necessarily valid at face value anymore. And now, thanks to a system that will let anyone dub a video to change the very words a recorded person says, the same suspicion also holds true for videos. Face2Face, as it’s called, is a new software program that makes convincing edits to the moving lips of a person who is speaking. That way, existing videos will suddenly look like the person really is saying the audio dubbed (and incorrect) words. Real and fake will be nearly indistinguishable, on the surface.

Face2Face is still a work in progress, with a team of researchers from Stanford, the Max Planck Institute, and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg constantly improving the program. The working prototype allows anyone to use a standard RGB webcam to capture video footage of their face, either saying words or making facial expressions. Pairing that footage with video footage of a celebrity, president, or public figure in the Face2Face program will make it look like the person is saying pretty much anything you want them to.

Matthias Niessner

The system pairs two monocular video streams (captured with a single webcam or video source) to make the finished video dub. Face2Face tracks facial expressions of the source video and the target video in order to warp the mouth movement in the final video into something believable. The system then combines the two feeds using a “dense photometric consistency measure,” and re-renders the source expression onto the target face in the original video setting. It’s scary, but even from an unfinished prototype of the system, the Face2Face edited video is pretty convincing.

Recommended Videos

The challenge to making convincing video may have a lot to do with the target star’s popularity level – if someone we’re used to seeing on TV all the time suddenly makes facial expressions that are new to the repertoire, viewers’ brains will raise some red flags automatically. Nonetheless, some savvy video hackers could theoretically make very believable video and audio dubs of perfectly legitimate speeches or broadcast appearances. Some people are afraid that this kind of system poses a threat to technology by making it inherently less reliable or believable, but the truth is that hoaxes in every medium have been around for ages.

There’s no telling what this software might eventually be used for — but we’re definitely looking forward to all the hilarious speech remixes that will undoubtedly hit YouTube once this software goes mainstream.

Chloe Olewitz
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Chloe is a writer from New York with a passion for technology, travel, and playing devil's advocate. You can find out more…
Sebastian Stan lays out Bucky’s future after Thunderbolts
Sebastian Stan in Thunderbolts.

There are some spoilers ahead for the ending of Marvel's Thunderbolts. Stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled.

Earlier this year, Captain America: Brave New World briefly introduced a new direction for James "Bucky" Barnes, a character Sebastian Stan has been playing since 2011 in Captain America: The First Avenger. In Brave New World, the former Winter Soldier apparently retired from being a reformed hero and went into politics by running for Congress. Thunderbolts reveals that Bucky won his election to the House of Representatives. But his stay in Congress was short.

Read more
Jeep Compass EV breaks cover—but will it come to the U.S.?
jeep compass ev us newjeepcompassfirsteditionhawaii  4

Jeep just pulled the wraps off the all-new Compass EV, and while it’s an exciting leap into the electric future, there's a catch—it might not make it to the U.S. anytime soon.
This is a brand new electric version of the Jeep Compass, and being built on Stellantis' STLA platform—the same architecture underpinning models like the Peugeot E-3008 and E-5008—it looks much slicker and packs a lot more inside than previous versions of the Compass.
Let’s start with what’s cool: the new Compass EV is packing up to 404 miles of range on a single charge, a 74 kWh battery, and fast-charging that gets you from 20% to 80% in about 30 minutes. Not bad for a compact SUV with Jeep's badge on the nose.
There are two versions: a front-wheel-drive model with 213 horsepower and a beefier all-wheel-drive version with 375 horsepower. That AWD setup isn’t just for looks—it can handle 20% inclines even without front traction, and comes with extra ground clearance and better off-road angles. In short, it’s still a Jeep.
The design's been refreshed too, and inside you’ll find the kind of tech and comfort you’d expect in a modern EV—sleek, smart, and ready for both city streets and dirt trails.
But here’s the thing: even though production starts soon in Italy, Jeep hasn’t said whether the Compass EV is coming to America. And the signs aren’t promising.
Plans to build it in Canada were recently put on hold, with production now delayed until at least early 2026. Some of that might have to do with possible U.S. tariffs on Canadian and Mexican vehicles—adding a layer of uncertainty to the whole rollout.
According to Kelley Blue Book, a Stellantis spokesperson confirmed that the company has “temporarily paused work on the next-generation Jeep Compass, including activities at” the Canadian plant that was originally meant to build the model. They added that Stellantis is “reassessing its product strategy in North America” to better match customer needs and demand for different powertrain options.
So while Europe and other markets are gearing up to get the Compass EV soon, American drivers might be left waiting—or miss out entirely.
That’s a shame, because on paper, this electric Jeep hits a lot of sweet spots. Let’s just hope it finds a way over here.

Read more
Charlie Cox singles out his least favorite Daredevil: Born Again episode
Charlie Cox in Daredevil: Born Again.

Daredevil: Born Again season 1 was largely reconceived after the 2023 actor and writer strikes. Dario Scardapane -- a veteran of The Punisher series on Netflix -- was brought in to be the new showrunner and he made a lot of changes to the series that were well-received. However, there's one episode that Scardapane didn't really change at all, and it happens to be the least favorite episode of Daredevil: Born Again's leading man, Charlie Cox.

During an appearance on The Playlist, Cox noted that he wasn't very fond of the season's fifth episode, "With Interest," which was a largely standalone episode that featured his character, Matt Murdock, in a bank during a hostage crisis.

Read more