As I sat watching “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” last night, I wondered if AI was used. This morning, I asked Google AI, and below is what I got.
The latest Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), extensively used artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology for its visual effects, particularly in the opening 25-minute sequence to de-age Harrison Ford.
Here are the details on how AI was used:
- De-aging the Star: Lucasfilm’s visual effects team, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), used an AI program to comb through decades of unreleased archival footage of Harrison Ford to map his younger face onto his current face.
- “Face Re-aging Network” (FRAN): The production used the AI system FRAN to analyze and manipulate facial features, skin texture, and lighting, enabling them to create a convincing, younger version of Indy from the 1980s.
- Performance Enhancement: While AI was crucial, it wasn’t the only tool. Over 100 VFX artists blended AI techniques with traditional CGI (sometimes called “ILM FaceSwap”) to ensure a seamless final result.
- Real Performance: Harrison Ford performed the scenes with motion-tracking markers on his face, so the performance is genuinely his, enhanced by digital technology.
Harrison Ford, in a 2025 interview, praised the use of new technology in the recent Indiana Jones and the Great Circle game, but emphasized that in the movie, it was a tool to enhance his own performance, stating, “That’s my actual face.”
Pretty soon, AI will be creating the heroes and heroines, they will be handsome and or beautiful, what people generally consider attractive. AI will make me sound like Otis Redding if that is what I choose it to do. We will spend our time at home loving things that do not exist, having virtual babies, and not realize that all humans will disappear from the face of the earth and that the machines have won.