The Future Will Be Filtered: From Y2K to Selfies: The Unexpected Rise of Facial Filters

The following was submitted by Sameer Ahuja, a Scarsdale resident and President of the sports tech company GameChanger. GameChanger's mobile apps are used in all 50 states by millions of youth sports coaches, fans, and athletes to score, stream, and watched by over 6 million youth sports games a year. Ahuja is a Trustee of Scarsdale Village and he writes a newsletter, Consume at Once.

(For my younger readers, back in 1999, widespread fears arose of potential computer system failures. These were expected to occur when the year 2000 began.)

Instead, the world didn’t end, and we rang in the new millennium without a global catastrophe.

Okay, we did get one thing we weren’t bargaining for: the selfie.

In 1999, Kyocera released the first-ever front-facing camera on a cell phone. This became a staple for every subsequent device, allowing the masses to embrace the idea of… capturing your own likeness. And just in time for future photo-sharing juggernauts like Facebook, Myspace, and eventually Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok.

Out of these apps sprung one more thing we weren’t expecting: the widespread acceptance of facial filters. Similar to the creatures from Gremlins, they were at first, innocuous. They were even cute, such as animated filters of dog ears or heart eyes. But they grew up fast. And have gotten out of control.

Nowadays, the most popular filters are beautification based, like removing wrinkles or smoothing out skin. But they can do so much more. “Beauty filters are changing the way young girls see themselves,” according to MIT Technology Review.

One particularly infamous example is TikTok’s Bold Glamour filter. “This filter goes far beyond putting a face-altering layer over someone's image…. Noses are thinned, chins are more sculpted, cheeks are raised, and eyes are brightened, as machine learning (AI) remaps people's faces.”

Similar to Gremlins, there are many (not so good) unintended outcomes from this development. In this two-part series we shall start with exploring how unrealistic beauty aspirations—enabled by recent tech—are negatively affecting our youth and even how we navigate our world of endless screens.

Researchers have sounded the alarm on how social media, and filters in particular, are harming so many teenagers. According to a recent study from ParentsTogether, “Teens who use beauty filters at least weekly are twice as interested in cosmetic surgery and four times as interested in changing their skin color as those who use filters less frequently.”

This has potential to be a problem.

In fact, cosmetic surgeons have seen massive increases in demand, especially among younger women. As this graphic shows, plastic surgery is no longer for celebrities or to reclaim youth. Chalk it up to the internet, or millennial wellness culture, but it’s clear that selfies (and filters) are playing no small part in this worrisome trend.

Those who lived through Y2K are old enough to recall when we began interacting online, we were only asked for simple info: our birthday, our classmates, our favorite film were all that were needed to exist and transact online.

Nowadays?

We risk giving up our likeness in ways that we can’t control. What does it mean to have a digital footprint, with thousands of personal data points available in the AI era? For one thing, massive machine learning models can sort through our online visages, using them how they see fit. Virtual kidnappers can now even use deepfake tech to ransom family members.

Fortunately, teams are working on ways to enjoy selfies and filters while skirting facial tracking. One such program Fawkes allows users to “cloak” their appearance to avoid being used for possible facial recognition modeling: “Fawkes ‘poisons’ models that try to learn what you look like, by putting hidden changes into your photos, and using them as Trojan horses to deliver that poison to any facial recognition models of you.”

Large social media platforms themselves are grappling with their position on this topic. They have come under criticism for making body image issues worse for teens. At the same time, they have correctly pointed out that social apps also contribute positive mental health benefits as a result of connection, community, and learning.

Certainly, many tech players have much to gain from this data, and our photos can be used for various purposes without our consent. In one case, Clearview AI used thousands of public photos from the web to build its facial recognition model.

While there are undoubtedly concerns about the impact of social media platforms and filters on mental health and body image, the situation is multifaceted. It's also worth considering the potential benefits and advancements in technology that such data can drive. The ethical use of data is a complex issue that requires ongoing dialogue between tech companies, governments, and users. It involves not only the actions and responsibilities of the companies but also the choices and awareness of individual users, as well as the potential positive aspects of these platforms. The conversation must continue to evolve to ensure a balanced and nuanced understanding of these critical issues.

Simply being aware of these issues in the first place is a key first step. Aside from privacy matters, such innovations are impacting mental health amongst our youth, forcing us to ask: What good is highly advanced tech if it can make our children insecure and miserable?

For now, we can expect to see more image tinkering in every facet of the web. Especially as face filters become more sophisticated, giving rise to AI assistants and even virtual friends. See my next article for more!

Ultimately, the year 2023 is as good a time as ever to ask deep questions about where our intentions lie with tech. Mindful innovation offers the best way forward. Otherwise? Just like Gremlins, we may do more harm than good.

See more from “Consume at Once,” by Sameer Ahuja.