Skin care goes back to the future with AI app
14 Oct 2021 --- The digital beauty technology brand Perfect Corp has launched its new aging simulation feature built using Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) technology. The brand, known for using artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) technologies, has made its aging experience accessible through the YouCam Makeup app, allowing users to visualize the aging process on their own faces.
The new feature, called YouCam Time Machine, is designed to enable users to travel forward to see what they may look like in the future, and back to previous years to revisit their younger selves. Releasing its new AI and AR technologies, Perfect Corp is poised to see how brands can integrate these tools to better engage and personalize the shopping experience.
To maximize the immersive nature of the digital beauty shopping environment, Perfect Corp is integrating AI skin diagnostic technology and AI skin score tools within the YouCam Makeup app to provide consumers with an in-depth analysis of their skin health and concerns. Talking about the AI Time Machine feature, CEO Alice Chang claims it to be “a great example of our continued investment in innovative AI technology.”
Entertaining the aging process
Describing the aging simulation tool as capable of producing “ultra-realistic results”, Chang states that these are possible due to the newest developments in GAN technology. The use of GAN enables the tool to learn a subject’s characteristics, in this case human faces. Once learned, the technology enables the app to replace these facial features to produce somewhat of a superficially-authentic resemblance to the subject at various ages.
The GAN technology uses machine learning frameworks to identify a consumer’s age and then creates a hyper-realistic simulation depicting how a consumer would age over the years. “The GAN technology is continuously learning and generating new data to ensure realistic simulations,” says Chang.
Click to EnlargePerfect Corp hopes to link the app to skin care products. Source: Perfect Corp.Utilizing the advanced functionality, users of the feature can select any age between 12 and 70 to be transported to via moving a slider on the app. By creating an “intuitive and entertaining interface”, users are able to take a photo in real-time or upload a photo. “It is an entertaining way to see how a person can look in decades to come, but also to show how your skin will age over the years,” states Chang.
“The results are captivating, creative, and fun - a match made in heaven for the social media space,” details Chang. Users can also produce short video clips depicting the age progression from young to old, combined with sharing tools. “The amazing power of AI GAN technology opens up a plethora of new exciting visual applications,” Chang continues.
“At the moment, the AI Time Machine aging simulation is an entertaining and engaging tool that allows app users to visualize the progression of their skin aging over time,” notes Chang. However, considering the possibilities of the aging simulation feature, Perfect Corp is now exploring how it may support skin care brands with skin aging products. “We hope that in the future there will be opportunities to leverage this technology in brand partnerships, particularly within the skin care and dermatology industries,” details Chang.
The advanced GAN technology can simulate how a consumer’s skin will age over time, which makes it possible to integrate with skin care brands that want to demonstrate the positive effects of skin care product regimens on the skin over time. Commenting on the possibilities for the aging simulation feature, Chang explains: “This advanced GAN technology has a great deal of potential for the skin care and dermatology industries where consumers are seeking personalized product recommendations more than ever before.”
In the future, Perfect Corp also estimates that GAN technology could be used by skin care brands and dermatologists to educate consumers on the benefits of various products such as anti-aging moisturizers and sunblock.
“Ultimately, we hope that these advanced AI technologies can one day be used by brands to help customers understand the best products for their skin and visualize improvements to their skin health over time,” emphasizes Chang.
By Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe, BPC Insights Senior Journalist
