IMPACT COMMUNICATION
AND INNOVATION
AND INNOVATION
Going against the grain of movements that advocate for greater acceptance and appreciation of different body types, the Chinese company SenseTime recently launched a technology that uses artificial intelligence, or more specifically machine vision (machine vision), as a way to apply filters in real time. In other words, more than just an augmented reality filter on Snapchat or the adjustments made in apps like Facetune, what this company promises is software that could, for example, change a person's hair and eye color or slim them down in real time during a live broadcast.
As we mark 5 years since the word “selfie” was named word of the year by the Oxford Dictionary, the practice has not only become routine but has also led to more than 250 deaths caused by people trying to take selfies in dangerous situations. Along with this behavioral trend, however, artificial intelligence algorithms capable of recognizing faces have also become more powerful and versatile, becoming a new method for making payments, accessing content or locations, but also as a form of surveillance.
It is in this sense that the website Trendwatching questions whether having a filter capable of editing us in real time is entirely positive or if it could actually bring disastrous consequences due to the potential this same technology has for surveillance issues. In reality, SenseTime is not a company focused on social media and photo editing software, but rather a company that became known for its notoriety in creating security systems, which led it to achieve a multi-billion dollar valuation due to its dealings with the Chinese government.
Another Chinese company called Meitu also reached a $4 billion valuation by tapping into the market for AI-enhanced selfies. This type of practice, by the way, is already quite common among the Chinese: about 50% of all selfies shared by locals are retouched and processed through the company's software. That is why Trendwatching warns: every dystopian technology is capable of having a palatable version or even being fully embraced by the public, but perhaps we could say that the opposite can also be true.
For the site, combining AI-powered facial recognition with a selfie retouching app perfectly captures two major current trends. The first concerns how apps have evolved: “Instagram helped us take ‘better’ photos of the world around us; Meitu makes people look more beautiful easily, but only in static photos; Snapchat’s augmented reality filters then made live videos less intimidating.” The second trend concerns the anti-Photoshop movement, which proves that consumers can indeed have controversial behaviors and conflicting, yet simultaneous, interests.
While the anti-Photoshop movement remains more of a form of resistance, it is natural that people continue to edit their photos as part of a transition process. However, when faced with technologies like SenseTime’s, which facilitate and normalize such retouching, we encounter a counter-trend that could easily derail the path already paved by proponents of body positivity and body neutrality.
As an exercise in futurology, the question remains: when augmented reality glasses or even augmented reality lenses become the norm, will we start using such real-time image retouching tools to present ourselves in public? Will we create a new layer of reality in which we modify our body image beyond screens and make these retouched images the new normal? It’s something to think about, and it reminds me, in particular, of the scene from the film The Congress, when Robin Wright searches for her son among the population connected to the virtual reality simulation—an environment completely disparate from the physical one where they find themselves in rags.
