AI Anime Selfies Propel Beauty App to Top of iPhone downloads chart
The ability to turn a user's selfie into an anime character has turbocharged the Meitu app to the top of Japan's download rankings over the past week, spurring a big jump in the company's shares.
Hong Kong-based Meitu Inc. is up more than 50% over the past couple of weeks, in which time its app has reached the top of Apple Inc.'s free iPhone downloads chart and number 2 on Android's Google Play in Japan, according to data.ai figures. While not new to the Japanese market, the key novelty in the beauty app was the addition of the option to transform a photo into an anime style with the help of AI.
Meitu has been working on AI photo tools since 2017 and that's begun to pay off with the anime-style selfies, which were rolled out in China on Nov. 24 and hit global markets like Japan three days later, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Wu Xinhong told Bloomberg. Since last week, the Meitu app has been among the top 3 most-downloaded on Apple's App Store in countries including the US, Brazil, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the CEO said. Global downloads surged 79% in the week commencing Nov. 28, data.ai figures showed.
“We are seeing an explosion of AI-generated content and its huge potential,” Wu said. “It's an unprecedented opportunity for us, a technological revolution.”
The use of AI to generate or alter images has taken off in popularity this year with the introduction of text-to-image systems like Midjourney and OpenAI's Dall-E. The technology is not without its controversy, but its appeal and accessibility have helped it proliferate. Meitu's approach differs, in applying a style transfer onto an existing image. The company also just rolled out the option to add subtle animations — like falling sakura — to
Read more on tech.hindustantimes.com
