Beauty maybe be skin deep, but AI finds revenue on the face’s surface

A Taiwanese AI algorithm maker knows the value of the mind behind a face. The company says its software can perform virtual fashion try-ons and parse a consumer’s personality with the same selfie.

Perfect Corp. last week pushed a new AI and augmented reality makeup app and a fashion industry tie-in that could seed the market for high-end algorithmic social aspiration. In August, the company went down-market with a beard try-on product.

None of that is to take away from Perfect’s July decision to start selling the AI Personality Finder. It is a combination of facial-feature mapping and rudimentary psychological data that allegedly tells people not only how emotionally attractive they are, but also, what products to use to increase their visual likability.

At least in the United States, Perfect typically sells to fashion and makeup companies, but it also partners with some firms for their mutual marketing benefit.

For instance, the software firm has created a try-on app for toothpaste maker Colgate that reportedly will show people how much brighter their teeth would be by using a Colgate product.

A selfie and a little measure of insecurity is all that someone needs.

A day later, Perfect said it was working with Nolcha Shows on New York Fashion Week (September 9 to 14), a top appointment on many social calendars. Nolcha, a fashion events promoter, has added try-on features to some segments of the show via its YouCam Makeup app.

Then there is Perfect’s Personality Finder, a subscription service sold to vendors for use by adults and children. It purports to be a biometric recognition algorithm based on the idea that certain faces belong to certain kinds of minds.

The app could raise eyebrows the way that emotion recognition algorithms have done.

It scans a selfie for as many as 65 facial attributes. Out the other end come scores for neuroticism, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and extroversion.

It is not unlike another of Perfect’s apps, its Skin Analysis tool.

Although Perfect says it will remove from its servers information pertaining to children younger than 16, the primary model it uses to illustrate its software appears to be younger.

It was just in March that Perfect left its parent, CyberLink, to acquire Provident Acquisition in order to register for an IPO this year. Provident is referred to as a blank-check company, which makes it the investing version of stem cells. It has all it needs to be something and is waiting for a nudge.

Article Topics

AI  |  augmented reality  |  biometrics  |  CyberLink  |  face biometrics  |  facial analysis  |  mobile app  |  Perfect  |  selfie biometrics  |  Taiwan