4 ms·

Questionable AI photo editor FaceApp goes viral again on iOS

18 points by laurex 7y ago

panpanna 7y ago
You pictures are sent to their servers for processing. Is this the real business model of the app?
gambiting 7y ago
"You may remember at one point it had an issue because it enabled what amounted to digital blackface " Can someone explain to me how is this possibly an issue. Changing someone's skin colour in Photoshop or even lightroom is pretty easy and I don't see anyone saying those apps have an "issue".
- Angostura 7y ago
  From what I recall, it wasn't just changing hue - it changed features such as nose width and mouth shape to make a photo resemble a stereotypical ethnic face shape. I can understand who some people might find that offensive.
  - ralusek 7y ago
    Surely based off of data rather than arbitrary stereotypes? It's not like East Asians are just stereotypically more likely to have straight black hair and narrower eyes than a Scandinavian, that's what a model would gather if trained in an entirely unbiased manner. Wider noses and larger lips are not offensive features, they're just features. An unbiased model would associate those as more common characteristics among black people in the same way that it would associate darker skin pigment...as a non offensive pattern.
- michaelgrafl 7y ago
  That's not how I remember it. In my memory they got heat because their "pretty" filter made people of all colors look decidedly more white.
- ralfd 7y ago
  It also changed features of the face (nose, eyes, mouth) and was from a machine learning perspective pretty neat: https://cdni.rt.com/files/2017.08/article/598c83d2fc7e937a4c8b4567.jpg https://cdni.rt.com/files/2017.08/article/598c83d2fc7e937a4c... Here is a discussion on Reddit about if that filter was „racist“ or not: https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/6tvaqp/cmv_faceapps_racial_filters_allowing_users_to/ https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/6tvaqp/cmv_fa... Personally I think if one is not US-American it is rather difficult to wrap ones head around it.
ian0 7y ago
>> You grant FaceApp a perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your User Content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with your User Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed, without compensation to you. When you post or otherwise share User Content on or through our Services, you understand that your User Content and any associated information (such as your [username], location or profile photo) will be visible to the public.

18 points by laurex 7y ago

You pictures are sent to their servers for processing. Is this the real business model of the app?

"You may remember at one point it had an issue because it enabled what amounted to digital blackface " Can someone explain to me how is this possibly an issue. Changing someone's skin colour in Photoshop or even lightroom is pretty easy and I don't see anyone saying those apps have an "issue".

Angostura 7y ago
From what I recall, it wasn't just changing hue - it changed features such as nose width and mouth shape to make a photo resemble a stereotypical ethnic face shape. I can understand who some people might find that offensive.
- ralusek 7y ago
  Surely based off of data rather than arbitrary stereotypes? It's not like East Asians are just stereotypically more likely to have straight black hair and narrower eyes than a Scandinavian, that's what a model would gather if trained in an entirely unbiased manner. Wider noses and larger lips are not offensive features, they're just features. An unbiased model would associate those as more common characteristics among black people in the same way that it would associate darker skin pigment...as a non offensive pattern.
michaelgrafl 7y ago
That's not how I remember it. In my memory they got heat because their "pretty" filter made people of all colors look decidedly more white.
ralfd 7y ago
It also changed features of the face (nose, eyes, mouth) and was from a machine learning perspective pretty neat: https://cdni.rt.com/files/2017.08/article/598c83d2fc7e937a4c8b4567.jpg https://cdni.rt.com/files/2017.08/article/598c83d2fc7e937a4c... Here is a discussion on Reddit about if that filter was „racist“ or not: https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/6tvaqp/cmv_faceapps_racial_filters_allowing_users_to/ https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/6tvaqp/cmv_fa... Personally I think if one is not US-American it is rather difficult to wrap ones head around it.

ian0 7y ago

>> You grant FaceApp a perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your User Content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with your User Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed, without compensation to you. When you post or otherwise share User Content on or through our Services, you understand that your User Content and any associated information (such as your [username], location or profile photo) will be visible to the public.