London: A digital version of Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting Mona Lisa can replace her enigmatic smile with a frown, pucker her lips and follow viewers' movements with her eyes.
The digital 'Living Mona Lisa' employs artificial intelligence technology and has been developed by a team of 40 French technicians and artists, who worked on the project for nearly a year.
The 'Living Mona Lisa' is equipped with a motion sensing device used in interactive video games.
It picks up spectators' movements and their images, allowing her "to react depending on her mood", said Jean-Claude Heudin, the head of the Paris Internet and Multimedia Institute, which developed the artificial intelligence system.
Florent Aziosmanoff, who created the interactive version, said the idea was to convert the Mona Lisa into a modern format, 'The Telegraph' reported.
"Now she can sense changes in her surroundings. Leonardo da Vinci tried to make her come alive, so it's appropriate that we've taken his intentions a few steps further," said Aziosmanoff.
Aziosmanoff said he chose the Mona Lisa because "she is the best known and one of the most iconic characters in the history of art."
The actual painting hangs in the Louvre museum in Paris, but digital versions will be produced and marketed in different sizes and formats.
