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Viral Chinese deepfake app Zao lets people superimpose their faces onto celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and it is terrifyingly convincing

Sep 2, 2019, 16:25 IST

This tweet from game developer Allan Xia shows his face grafted onto various shots of Leonardo DiCaprio.

Xia also had a dialogue with himself as both Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly from "Game of Thrones."

The app has GIF-generating functionality, as illustrated by this gif of Xia as Wolverine.

It also appears to work with video game characters, here's Xia inserting his face into "Devil May Cry."

Finally Xia replaced a K-Pop singer's face with his own.

Twitter-user Nikk Mitchell also deepfaked his way onto DiCaprio's filmography.

Mitchell expressed his amazement at the app, mapping himself onto two Chinese actors.

Chinese technology commentator Matthew Brennan inserted himself into the "Big Bang Theory."

And Twitter user Andrew Rae transposed himself into "Braveheart."

Zao isn't currently available to non-Chinese users, but it's raising some concerns around privacy and the ethics of deepfakes

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