TLDR: WATCH THE VIDEO (click above)
FaceApp has numbers that most PMs can only dream of:
350M+ downloads
33M users (in 2022)
$80 million in revenue in 2022, grown by $30 million over 2021
One of the first AI-powered photo editor apps around, FaceApp blew up in 2017 and is now having a resurgence in this current age of AI. People are now searching for what can be enhanced—and that goes beyond grammar to include your lips and cheeks.
You’ll have to watch the video to find out the answer to the most surface-level question: What artificial enhancement is best? We try 3 in the video: software, hardware, and analog (makeup).
But the most interesting question is the ethics one. FaceApp is basically deepfaking YOU. But unlike with celeb deepfakes, you’re consenting to it. So is it wrong?
You could say it’s not wrong because you’re not directly hurting anyone. You didn’t plagiarize an article.
You could say it is wrong because you’re indirectly contributing to a beauty standard that is unrealistic.
Both of those seem correct, but don’t have enough legs to pass our ethics sniff test on their own. The only argument that could reasonably pass is the equality argument: lookism is real. There is a beauty premium.
Pretty people get ahead in life—from education to wages to love. This may be obvious in day- to-day life, but we don’t discuss it as a problem to solve. But it is. There is a massive difference in how we treat each other based on how we look—and this leaves a lot on the table for many people.
If we could close the gap even a little, it could be a big boon to people’s overall wellbeing. Of course we try now. Many women spend a lot of time getting ready in the AM, wear makeup almost every day, and get botox and nose jobs. We buy fancy purses and expensive watches.
There is an acceptable level of trying to overcome the lookism gap—and it does work. Even among men, for whom wanting to look good was historically stigmatized, are spending more time and money on grooming.
But this is big. I looked HOT. I am not HOT in real life.
So while this is not something I would use normally, it does seem like a good card to have in my pocket in situations where ‘looks do matter.’ Instead of riding some hedonic treadmill, $500 botox treatment every 4 months, women can just pull out their app. 📱
Whether this is our LinkedIn profile or on a Zoom icon, looking better is looking up.
3 things I cover in this teardown:
💡 How my ‘natural’ face looks vs. what FaceApp can do vs. Continuity Camera vs. me with makeup
💡 What the ‘beauty premium’ is (& what it means for your salary, job prospects, or grades)
💡 1 way AI-powered selfies could level the playing field in a looks-advantaged world
Don’t look at me—look at the camera 🤳
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Questions about your product? Email kristen@irrationallabs.com.
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