It can turn a frowny face into a smiley one, and make a young face look old.
But FaceApp’s “hot” filter that aims to take out blemishes or wrinkles to make selfies look more attractive winds up lightening the user’s skin tone — and the method has created a furor, USA Today reports.
FaceApp uses artificial intelligence to create "neural face transformations," such as aging your selfie or turning you into the opposite gender, the news outlet noted.
First you pull up a photo, then apply the filter of your choosing, such as "old," "young," "female" or "male.” Users then can create an image featuring two photos side by side, or a collage of up to four images. There’s also two "smile" filters, which can add smiles .
In a statement, FaceApp maker Wireless Lab OOO says they are working on a fix for the problematic “hot” filter that should be ready soon, and changed the name of the filter to “spark."
"We are deeply sorry for this unquestionably serious issue," reads their statement. "It is an unfortunate side-effect of the underlying neural network caused by the training set bias, not intended behavior."
According to USA Today, FaceApp isn't the first app to run into trouble with filters.
Snapchat was criticized for a filter of Bob Marley many claimed was equivalent to "digital blackface," while a separate filter released months later was blasted for reinforcing stereotypes of Asians, the news outlet reported.
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