Using deepfake techniques to uncover the deep truth
11/10/2026Carl Stumpf delivered an important speech in 1908 whilst serving as rector of a university in Berlin. Using AI technologies, the Centre for the History of Psychology is bringing his speech back to life.
Carl Stumpf was born in Wiesentheid, Lower Franconia, in 1848. He studied at the University of Würzburg, where he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the age of just 25.
His subsequent career took him via the universities of Prague, Halle and Munich to Berlin. There, he established a world-class psychological Institute and was elected Rector of the Friedrich Wilhelm University.
His inaugural address has been preserved on a shellac disc
On 3 August 1908, Carl Stumpf delivered a speech at his university’s anniversary celebrations. In it, he addressed the students in particular and warned them against moral decline.
No cameras were rolling whilst he spoke. However, Stumpf – founder of the Berlin Phonogram Archive, now part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World programme – had the technology to record his speech on shellac discs.
One of these records is now housed in Würzburg, alongside Carl Stumpf’s estate, at the University’s Centre for the History of Psychology (ZGP). It has now served as the audio source for using AI to digitally recreate the rector’s speech.
Deep Truth: A realistic AI reconstruction
The ZGP presents the result on its website. A photograph of Carl Stumpf from 1908 is displayed; his lips move as he delivers the speech in his own voice. Every lip movement, every blink, every vocal inflection and every pause for breath has been calculated in minute detail by AI.
“What appears to be a classic deepfake is, in fact, the opposite: a ‘deep truth’,” says ZGP Director Professor Armin Stock. “It is an attempt to use modern AI simulation techniques to reconstruct a historical event as closely as possible to the reality of that time.”
Historical originals used
Carl Stumpf’s speech (“On Ethical Scepticism”) has been preserved as a manuscript, whilst his voice has been preserved on a shellac record. And his estate contains an original photograph from 1908 in which he is wearing the rector’s chain. This image has now been brought to life using sophisticated lip-syncing algorithms.
“We have created a ‘Deep Truth’ in two respects,” says Armin Stock. Firstly, only original historical materials were used in its creation – materials for which the ZGP holds the rights or where the copyright has expired. Secondly, the ‘reanimated speech’ contains timeless truths that remain relevant today.
Read more on this topic
What was Carl Stumpf’s speech about? What was meant by ‘ethical scepticism’ at the beginning of the 20th century? Why can Stumpf’s speech still provide guidance and direction for young people today?
Read about this and more regarding Carl Stumpf on the website of the Centre for the History of Psychology.
