Using AI to find missing people

SGGP 09/05/2023 06:34

Argentine journalist Santiago Barros used artificial intelligence (AI) to create images of children who lost their parents during Argentina's military dictatorship (1976-1983).

Journalist Santiago Barros and the missing person search application from 1976-1983 in Argentina

Barros uploaded the images to an Instagram account called iabuelas (a Spanish portmanteau of AI) and was inspired by the popular activist group Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, which searches for missing children.

During Argentina's bloody dictatorship from 1976-1983, military officials systematically stole the babies of dissidents, who were detained or often executed and disposed of without a trace.

Using an app called Midjourney, Mr. Barros combined photos of missing people from the Grandmothers website's public archive and photo material provided by interested parties, creating images of what their children would look like as adults today.

The aim, Barros said, was to stir the consciences of those over 46 who might have doubts about their origins and to remind them of the more than four decades of searching for these children.