beauty-alpha

—— In 2019, the AI platform Megvii/Face++ launched the ‘beauty score’ function. Meitu AI launched the function of ‘Selfie Beautification’. This function can analyse a face and assign it a score out of 100 based on criteria such as liveliness, attractiveness and symmetry. ——

When face beautification filters and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are widely used in plastic surgery APPs and in situations where our appearance can be scored and quantified. In a virtual digital space characterized by diversity, dispersion, and contingency, who decides what ‘we’ consider as beautiful? Ideology, our democratic society, artificial intelligence?  How do algorithms and synthetic organisms look at faces? How does virtual and traditional capital penetrate and consume our daily masked but networked existence? How do organic desires emerge & disappear? What is the role of sexism, racism, and ableism in this context? How should we perceive the relationship among various AI platforms, social media and the facelift industry?

AI ethic for beautification is no longer merely a sign but a reality that shapes our bodies, faces, scars and desires. As the digital self and virtual reality intervene in the physical world, what measures can be taken to utilise current and future technologies autonomously to decrease the restrictions imposed by AI algorithms on women’s rights?

Beauty-alpha is a phased research artwork. The diagram attempts to explore the relationship among various AI platforms, social media and the facelift industries from the aspects of racial bias and gender oppression, teenagers’ aesthetic uniformity and belittlement of self-esteem due to social media filtering and the considerable application of AI algorithms and virtual face enhancement technologies in the facelift industry. Additionally, how their underlying constructs invisibly shape aesthetics of the public and gain profit is explored.

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