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Google’s Arts & Culture app was first launched in 2016, offering “virtual access” to some of the most famous art collections in the world, and many stories about arts and culture from around the world. The latest update of the app, however, makes use of Google’s extensive knowledge of machine-learning-based facial recognition, and the front camera of your smartphone, to find your fine art doppelganger… just ’cause.
The new feature lets you record a selfie and receive a list of portrait artworks your self-portrait resembles. While the user interface is extremely simple, Google is using highly sophisticated facial recognition algorithms to compare your facial characteristics to the portraits among the 70,000+ works of art in its Google Art Project database.
To try it out, download and install the app and scroll down to the “is your portrait in a museum?” icon on the front screen. From there, you simply capture an image of your face, and the system will analyze which which work of art you most resemble.
Looking at some of the results on Twitter and other social media, it is fair to say that the feature generally does a pretty decent job in matching selfie subject and piece of art; however, among the examples we have posted below, you’ll also see the occasional slip-up.
Unfortunately, it appears that if you are, like myself, living outside the US, you are currently out of luck as the new feature has not been rolled out globally yet. Hopefully this will happen soon though. If you are based in the US, you can find Google Arts & Culture on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
Hey good morning everyone, this Google Arts and Culture app is scary. pic.twitter.com/yt2kSYMWyM
— Ding Dong Daddi (@sixthsentz) January 13, 2018
This is addictive. Google Arts and Culture app will tell you which museum painting looks most like you. Please call me Manuel from now on. pic.twitter.com/8LKG8bRkO2
— David Wade (@davidwade) January 14, 2018
Torn between which one I think is better likeness with the Google Arts and Culture app. pic.twitter.com/uSw8RmOip8
— Felicia Day (@feliciaday) January 13, 2018
Honestly fuuuuuuuck google arts and culture pic.twitter.com/8W4gLO48PJ
— Linz (@LinzElah) January 14, 2018
Just got owned by Google Arts and Culture app. pic.twitter.com/RTQCPQ3AR1
— Adam The Greatest C.P.A. Morris (@aimorris) January 13, 2018
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)