25/04/17 - FaceApp apologises for 'racist' filter that lightens users' skintone (66)

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/25/faceapp-apologises-for-racist-filter-which-lightens-users-skintone

This article is about how the creator of an app which changes your selfies using artificial intelligence has apologised because its “hot” filter automatically lightened people’s skin.

FaceApp is touted as an app which uses “neural networks” to change facial characteristics, adding smiles or making users look older or younger. But users noticed one of the options, initially labelled as “hot” made people look whiter. Yaroslav Goncharov, the creator and CEO of FaceApp, apologised for the feature, which he said was a side-effect of the “neural network”.He said: “We are deeply sorry for this unquestionably serious issue.“It is an unfortunate side-effect of the underlying neural network caused by the training set bias, not intended behaviour.” In addition, the writer also mentions Snapchat and how they have also faced similar problems but still are capable of running their app even though there have been many different criticism about them. 

• He told TechCrunch in February: “We believe that such entertaining effects are subject to trends, but photorealism is timeless
• Yaroslav Goncharov, the creator and CEO of FaceApp, apologised for the feature, which he said was a side-effect of the “neural network”.
• Snapchat’s filters have come under fire on several occasions. Last year it was criticised for promoting “yellowface” after it released a filter which allowed users to turn their selfies into Asian caricatures. Prior to that, a Bob Marley filter was dubbed “the digital equivalent of blackface”.

In my opinion, I believe that this app has been through unnecessary pressure; the argument itself seemed like it had repeated itself as it has been faced with another social media sites Snapchat which was mentioned in the article. The fact that this app makes the user younger to look at, shouldn't be a problem as this is the joy of the app and which makes new and digital media worth while. With these new different technologies makes it more appealing and more users will want to use it as they would be attracted by it.