Irina Bolgar – neural network project? Arguments for and against

The attention of Irina Bolgar, who unexpectedly appeared in the media sphere, gradually increased. By training, the lawyer immediately stated that she was in a relationship with Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, and together they have three children. At first, subscribers silently watched the blog post of the businessman’s ex, then noticed strange details.

Many people noticed that the woman’s facial expression did not change in the photos and videos, the image in the frames on her phone became blurry, and in Stories the woman was always silent. Irina also publishes large texts every day, often containing repeated information about alimony and a difficult separation from an entrepreneur. As a result, followers concluded that this was not a real person, but a neural network.

While Internet users are wondering whether Irina Bolgar really exists, we contacted experts to understand the situation.

Looking at a video in which the smartphone of Pavel Durov’s ex-girlfriend is “blurred”, deepfake expert Ivan Gribin found arguments in favor of the assumptions of users of the social network: “We see a beautiful pattern on the shirt, but a strange hand and a cropped phone. A neural network is involved here However, it is often difficult for propagation algorithms to produce a good repeating model.

Physiognomist Olga Druzhkova also presented arguments in support of the neural network conspiracy theory. “It’s very similar to a neural network. There’s a crooked hand here. If it was just a filter that came out to improve his appearance, his fingers wouldn’t be so stuck together. Bulgarians’ little fingers are stuck to their ring and middle fingers, like plastic people in horror movies. Maybe an odd use of someone else’s face. It is the age of technology where you can now steal someone else’s look for your videos. Neural networks have come a long way, I think it’s been skewed for our discussion.”

Expert opinions are divided into two regarding photographs of Bulgarians in similar poses and with the same facial expressions. Ivan Gribin explained that similar angles do not prove anything. “One might enjoy taking selfies like this. There are no visible flaws so it’s most likely just a photo. “In the second image, you can see standard compression artifacts near the right eye, but overall it looks more lifelike.”

Physiognomist Olga Druzhkova noticed that Durova’s ex showed subscribers only her left side: “In each photo, the head position is the same, the hair is curly, but the parting is different. The lipstick is different, you can see realistic crackles. The neural network cannot listen. It blurs them everywhere. In one photo, the head “didn’t stick together very well” with the background. Bulgarian shows only the left “material” part of the face. Material values ​​are important to him. This coincides exactly with what Irina Bolgar published. He or she is most likely a perfectionist, pays attention to detail, and only says well-analyzed things. “Such people are quickly convinced and receive the necessary information immediately.”

However, the expert did not claim that Irina Bolgar does not exist: “The neural network is constantly learning. It cannot create a completely new image for us. His face had already come from somewhere.”