Plastic Surgeons Are Using A.I. to Determine Beauty

Will algorithms destroy the cultural diversity of what qualifies as pretty?

Zara Stone
OneZero

--

Illustration: Evan Weselmann

ByBy late 2017, I’d reported on so many cosmetic surgery stories that I started wondering if I should get something done myself. But how to decide? Looking in the mirror, I couldn’t pinpoint what procedure would make me look better. So I turned to the now defunct startup Analyze My Face for advice. The startup asked me to take hi-res images of my face using my DSLR, and then uses that picture to consult with dental and cosmetic surgeons to create a mockup of the “best” face for me; apparently I could use fillers due to poor chin projection and Madame Butterfly surgery on my lower eyelids to fill out the hollows. I was impressed at the time, but two years is a long time in tech; today algorithms, not humans, would make this assessment.

Today many cosmetic surgeons would pair those photos with artificial intelligence to create a 3D rendering of my face that realistically portrays movement and expression. Their tools would then analyze my features and and tell me the percentage increases in attractiveness I could achieve for each recommended surgery.

Cosmetic surgery is big business in the United States, and across the world. In the United States, doctors performed roughly 17.7 million…

--

--

Zara Stone
OneZero

Tech+Culture f/lance journo. www.zarastone.net Bylines: OneZero, Marker, Atlantic, Forbes, etc. Author: The Future of Science Is Female https://bit.ly/stm202