Loto-Québec is ready to amp up the nostalgia factor and celebrate its 50th anniversary with yet another intriguing detail. This year would be a rather special one, as it is about to see Bernard Derome return on TV and teleport viewers back to 1970. Thanks to artificial intelligence, he would go back in time and introduce the Loterie Mensuelle monthly lottery draw.
Projections are that it would attract the attention of many potential players and evoke nostalgia in others. The year 2020 is a special one for the Crown corporation overseeing lottery and gaming offerings in Quebec. Celebrating half a century of lottery and casino management and new lottery products introduced on a regular basis is about to shape the upcoming 12 months. The strong beginning has already been introduced.
Deepfake Technology Introduced
Loto-Québec introduced the return of monthly lottery draws celebrating its very first lottery ticket called Lotterie Mensuelle. This gaming product retailed for CA$2, ranking it among the more affordable gaming products powered by the Crown corporation. March 14, 1970, saw the first monthly draw of this lottery game, meaning that March 14, 2020 is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a draw.
Players already have the chance to purchase one of the lottery tickets ahead of the draw and to enter the generous gaming opportunity. The promotional campaign for Loterie Mensuelle is also a rather special one, as it is about to turn back time to the golden days of Loto-Québec. Bernard Derome is about to enter Quebecers’ home once again with the special announcement. This would happen through hypertrucage technology.
It is also commonly referred to as deepfake, hypertreatment, and more. The technology itself makes it possible for a machine-learning algorithm to essentially superimpose a face and a voice on a moving image, creating the illusion that the speaker has a different personality. The technology has been notoriously known for its potentially deceitful nature, as the speaker’s face is completely transformed.
Innovation Rewinds the Clock
Hypertrucage could still be noticed upon further looking into the quality of the image. Looking closely at the speaker’s ears or hair, as well as any slight movements of the head, might reveal that deepfake technology has been implemented. The very contents of the speech in question might also raise suspicions of hypertrucage technology altering the video.
Sid Lee, a faithful partner of the lottery corporation that has devised many promotional campaigns in the past, once again created the ad campaign. The first step for the successful campaign was finding an actor that could replicate the Canadian broadcaster and news anchor of Le Téléjournal on SRC Television until December 18, 2008. The actor learned together with imitator Pierre Verville.
Then it was time for the artificial intelligence to enter the stage and superimpose Mr. Derome’s face over the actor’s face. Nevertheless, body language is also important, as this is something the machine cannot fake. The last missing piece of this puzzle was the voice. Mr. Derome recorded the TV ad and his voice was used. He recently said that the result is quite moving and he finds it an emotional experience.
