Little prince face of ageing software

Images of 2-year-old Prince George were blended with pictures of his father Prince William to help train the appearance software. Photo / AP

When the midwife handed me my newborn son, my first thought was that this hideous homunculus could surely not be mine. He was bald and jaundice-yellow, his little features squashed into an expression of profound dismay at finding himself in the world.

Eventually he grew into his looks. Now, at 24, his appearance is so mutable that I cannot imagine what he will look like next year, let alone at 40, 50 or 60.

With this, Professor Hassan Ugail, of Bradford University's Centre for Visual Computing, might be able to help. With his colleague, Ali Bukar, he has developed software that can predict how people's appearance will change as they grow older.

The technology, which blends the features of an individual with those of his or her parents, was developed as a tool to spot terrorist suspects, and was "trained" using images of much-photographed celebrity tots such as David Beckham's daughter, Harper and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's son, Prince George.

Professor Ugail believes his program can predict the future appearance of a child with "about 80 per cent accuracy". In fact, the "aged" images of the diminutive celebs all have the faintly sinister look of police identikit picture.

Apart from its practical use in anti-terrorism, the invention may prove helpful in tracing missing children, but its more frivolous aspects are both eye-catching and faintly alarming. With few exceptions the looks of middle-aged people are not beguiling. A degree of intimacy is necessary before you can really cherish someone's ageing face.

There is a peculiar poignancy in examining childhood pictures of someone grown-up. In reverse, I suspect the effect might be more sinister than poignant. The infinite possibilities of technology are marvellous, of course. But there really are some things that it is better not to know.