While this is undoubtedly very impressive, I think it's just another logical step to what we've been seeing so far:
- In the past, you needed to have a pianist at home to perform you a song, with the music box and then the phonograph you don't need to hire anyone anymore. It's probably not as good as a live performance (maybe?), but it's good enough for many people, and much much cheaper, faster, and available.
- You needed advanced knowledge and equipments at home to produce magazine-style tri-fold leaflets or wedding invitations, with modern word processors you can use a template and be alright. It's probably not as good as a professionally customized design (maybe?), but it's good enough for many people, and much much cheaper, faster, and available.
- You used to hire a photographer or an artist to have your portrait photographed/painted, now you can do with your NVIDIA card at home. It's probably not as good as a professionally painted one, but it's good enough for many people, and much much cheaper, faster, and available.
The next step would be to have it actually turned into an actual canvas rendering, with the texture and such of actual paint. Could probably be done using 3d printer technology, inkjet, and/or robotics in some manner...
...in fact, I know you can already get photos printed to canvas - but taking it to the next stage of texture would be amazing - right now, I think the best you can get is to have a trained person "highlight" areas of the canvas with paint. From what I understand, there's a whole "village" or small city in China that specializes in custom painted images (which a lot of online places use); I would be surprised if there isn't an effort to automate this work.
What for? Really, honest question. If you look at it as an achievement of technology, then it's fine. But if you look at it as real thing from real person, then it's fake.
I prefer the aesthetic qualities of paint applied by strokes over an inkjet print of a "painterly" image. I'd enjoy a service that allows you to upload source images, pick a stylization, and then buy a painted-by-robotically-wielded-brush version.
By way of analogy: I own some furniture from Ikea and some nice antique furniture. I don't know or care much about the provenance of the antique furniture. It's made up of bargains from yard/estate sales. If a big box store could sell me an inexpensive antique-alike bureau that was indistinguishable from my existing one (to unaided human senses), I'd happily buy it. I want the thing more than the story behind the thing.
- In the past, you needed to have a pianist at home to perform you a song, with the music box and then the phonograph you don't need to hire anyone anymore. It's probably not as good as a live performance (maybe?), but it's good enough for many people, and much much cheaper, faster, and available.
- You needed advanced knowledge and equipments at home to produce magazine-style tri-fold leaflets or wedding invitations, with modern word processors you can use a template and be alright. It's probably not as good as a professionally customized design (maybe?), but it's good enough for many people, and much much cheaper, faster, and available.
- You used to hire a photographer or an artist to have your portrait photographed/painted, now you can do with your NVIDIA card at home. It's probably not as good as a professionally painted one, but it's good enough for many people, and much much cheaper, faster, and available.