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| (Designer Kim mnbgn@) |
Oh, my God, sir. Is this really my face?
You've lost a few pounds, made a hard appointment at the makeup shop to get a full head-to-toe makeover, and then headed to an even harder appointment at the studio. It's all part of the process to get that "profile picture" that celebrities post on portals and websites.
That's not the end, the real finishing touch. It's only after a professional's bone-crunching, flesh-cutting retouching that a true "profile picture" is in your hands.
After receiving the photos, I would be overwhelmed with happiness, and then I would look back on the whole process and realize that I had a lot of non-stringers. But then a profile came along that shortened the time frame to a day or an hour.
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| (Designer Kim mnbgn@) |
AI is also used for profile pictures, thanks to the 'AI Profile' service launched by Naver subsidiary Snow.
It is an artificial intelligence service that allows you to upload 10 to 20 selfies of yourself, and then the AI creates various conceptual image photos from the input images. All I need is a bunch of selfies on my phone and I can get a profile picture in no time.
It's also very affordable: while the cost of a profile photo starts at around $100,000 without makeup, these "AI profiles" end at a fraction of a dollar. You'll pay $6600 to get your photo within an hour, or $3300 to get it within 24 hours.
Affordability and curiosity drew people to these "AI profiles," and one by one, other people's photos started popping up on social media, creating a nagging sense of anticipation: "Is this my face?
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| (Designer Kim mnbgn@) |
The problem was, they all had the same idea. Before I could even press the "AI Profile" button, I was rejected: "Due to the rapid increase in the number of AI Profile users, the service is currently experiencing delays," was the first of several prompts.
When Snow's servers crashed due to the high volume of users in a short period of time, they added another notice: "For a smoother experience, we recommend using the service in the early morning or early evening hours." They were kind enough to tell me the time of day.
Finally, a window popped up asking me to select my photos, and I carefully chose 20. After cursing at another prompt several times, it was time to pay.
There was no option to pay within 24 hours or within 1 hour, because the half-price 24 hour option was already "sold out." I chose 6,600 won and waited again. I was informed that there were 863 people waiting for the results.
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| (Designer Kim mnbgn@) |
They received their "AI profile". Was everyone happy? The general reaction was "Who are you?", "Is my selfie this fake, or is my face this recognizable to the AI?" A lot of questions arose.
Since the selfie was already retouched, and the AI profile added additional retouching to it, the results were often at odds with me, but the good news is that I was able to find a few photos out of the 30 that contained a high percentage of my face.
The other thing that I noticed was that there were a lot of tips that said that if you put in a 'naked selfie' out of 20 photos, it would be disregarded. In particular, it was said that it was helpful to put in multiple shots instead of just one direction. In many of the tips, they didn't end up with one profile photo. They had to go through two or three before they were satisfied with the 'AI profile' they got.
There are two sides to the story: those who are happy that they got the perfect value-for-money profile picture at a low price, and those who are dissatisfied with the over-retouching. The negative side says that no matter what photo you put in, it's all "made up," "retouched," and crammed into the same design, which doesn't show any of the physical characteristics that make each person different.
The positive side has taken it a step further, proclaiming that it's better than the real thing, and they want it for their ID or resume photo. They're trying to talk me out of it, saying that a different photo could get them rejected. I'm applauding the fact that it's enough to get a similar photo without having to hold it up.
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| (Designer Kim mnbgn@) |
There are several examples of the popularity of the app 'Snow' before the 'AI profile', which many people have used at least once. 'Similar celebrity finder' and 'Future 2-year-old face' were services that find similar celebrities when you put in your own selfie, and when you put in a photo of a man and a woman, it shows the face of your future 2-year-old son or daughter.
Instead of pretty and cool celebrities, unexpected 'celebrities' popped up, causing hilarious reviews, and some people showed off their selfie fraud skills by saying, "My 2-year-old came out as a foreigner." These services went viral on SNS, with one post after another saying, "I did it too." This is the same with AI profiles, which are now flooding SNS with profile photos taken by the entire country in a 'studio' that looks the same and different.
It's true that you can get a good profile picture for your money with an 'AI profile'. In fact, when I saw this photo, I actually thought that if I went to the hospital with this photo, it would increase my chances of 'successful surgery'.
I am grateful that I can face my 'tuning appearance' even if it is a photo, and today I will join the profile competition to find the 'perfect photo'.
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