New technology allows users to instantly edit videos to make people say and express things they're not

Researchers have shared ground-breaking footage of new video-editing technology that allows users to replace the expressions of filmed subjects with their own.

The real-time face capture and re-enactment technology was unveiled in a video posted to the YouTube page of a multi-university research team on Thursday.

The video shows a range of actors performing a variety of expressions and mouth movements in front of a standard webcam, which are then live-mapped onto the faces of subjects on a screen behind them in a “photo-realistic fashion”.

For the demonstration, researchers used YouTube videos of various politicians, including George Bush, Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama, to hilarious effect.

The technology appears to work by morphing the video subject’s face to correspond with that of the actor’s, duplicating the image of the actor’s mouth onto the subject’s.

While YouTube videos were used, the researchers state that it was a “live set-up” occurring in real time, suggesting that the technology could be effectively used to manipulate live footage as well.

Some YouTube users discussed the possible implications of such technology being used for inappropriate purposes.

“This is too far. Very scary potential for misuse. Do no pursue this for the good of humanity ,” user aJovialPenguin said.

“This is some Department of Truth, 1984 s--- right here,” user Seth R said.

The research team comprises several students from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Max Planck Institute for Informatics and Stanford University.

A Stanford University information page suggests the findings of the research could be released as early as June 2016.