A French Artist Says He Received a National ID Card Using a Computer-Generated Headshot

With a stunt that will probably see France initiating alteration to its National ID placard syllabus , an artist namedRaphaël Fabresubmitted a photorealistic figurer - generated simulacrum of himself — and he allege it was approved without interrogative sentence .

To check his CG headshot was as contrived as potential , Fabre tell Gizmodo that he modeled it by hand using 3D package , instead of digitizing his head using a optical maser digital scanner — a sentence - saving proficiency used by picture plot and visual effect studio . He also says he used particle effects to beget faux hair , and eventually relied on multiple renderers to make the headshot feeling like it was photograph in a photobooth .

In an electronic mail , he wrote :

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

I thought at first of using a 3D scan , but I wanted the picture to come as much from the softwares as potential , so I set off from a canonic cube in Blender , that I modified and sculpted to make a basic human head . The model is then re - sculpted more precisely in another software program … I still needed to use a grain from photographs of myself , which are paint by sound projection on the model . Back in blender , all the ignitor , shaders , are add . The clothes are 3D models too … Once the model is hand over in blender , the 2D double had to be a lot retouched to correct the lights , make my face more resemble … and the picture needed to seem like it came from a photobooth , and not like a 3D render .

Of course , the nature of this stunt , whichFabre also detail on his web site , is also a practiced reason to question its authenticity . As convincing as the photo of his new ID visiting card appear ( along with its supporting paperwork ) , an artist talented enough to make a photorealistic headshot could also easily Photoshop an existing ID bill to affirm their claims . But Fabre hastried to fool audience with 3D portrayal before , so it ’s not hard to conceive he would endeavor to fool his government to test just how realistic a fake headshot could be .

Whenlooking at a in high spirits - re version of Fabre ’s headshot on a computer concealment , it ’s gentle to see the insidious clues that hint it might be information processing system - generated . But software for ID cards — even passports — only require a tiny headshot to be pass on along with other supporting certification . Being able to tell that a grainy pic no large than a business card is CG is difficult , even when comparing it side - by - side to the real somebody .

William Duplessie

France ’s identity card is non - compulsory , so it ’s not like Fabre fake his birthing credentials , or tried the same stunt with a pass . However , the card can be used as identification while traveling through most of Europe , and to other Gallic territories , so France ’s government credibly wo n’t be too happy with this artwork undertaking .

Some might suggest that the solution to a problem like this is to call for exposure for IDs be only taken at approved government adroitness , but that still involves people , and people can lie in . More realistically , however , it may be prison term to concede that photographs are no longer a reliable way to authenticate someone ’s identify , give how easy they are to fake and vary now .

[ Raphaël FabreviaProsthetic Knowledge ]

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