Just a few short years ago, AI was simply something we all used to make funny images to share with our friends without the faintest inclination of where the technology would take us. And boy has it taken us pretty far pretty quickly! Fast-forward to today and AI has permeated many aspects of our lives. It’s all over the internet, in our smartphones, making its way into our homes, and has led to some niche products being made.
Naturally, since AI can be found just about everywhere—for better or for worse—the technology has also entered the beauty industry in a few ways, helping you look your best in a multitude of ways. To give you the lowdown, we’ve rounded up 5 great ways that AI can help your beauty routine.
1. AI Can Help Optimize Your Beauty Routine
If you’ve ever gotten caught up trying to figure out the best possible beauty routine considering your skin type, age, the climate you live in, and your lifestyle, then you know how difficult it can be to balance all these factors and find the perfect products for your skin.
Fortunately, AI is making this process as painless as possible in a variety of ways. Just open up the Apple or Play stores, do a quick search, and you’ll find a few such apps. They’ll ask you a few questions and even let you upload a selfie so that the AI algorithm can analyze your face and provide even more specific recommendations.
This AI-enhanced way of doing it sure beats having to pour over labels, instructions, and recommendations on skin types just to find the perfect combination of products that work for you. You can easily give AI the opportunity to do it for you.
2. AI Can Make You Look Your Best on Social Media
Remember when we said that AI-generated images were mostly a fun way to create some images that you could share with your friends for a good laugh? Those days are long gone.
Now, a lot of AI-generated images can be virtually indistinguishable from real photographs. Sure, sometimes these images still have a certain look to them to clue you into their nature, like almost being too perfect: too clean, too much depth of field, too bright.
However, if you play with these AI tools enough—and get lucky enough—you can get some pretty tremendous results, perfect for making you look your best on social media. Before the emergence of AI, professional photo shoots were expensive. Just one look into headshot pricing can give you a glimpse into how expensive getting professional photos taken would be.
AI has, fortunately, leveled the playing field to an impressive degree. Now, a single Google search will show countless options for having AI-generated images of yourself made in a variety of poses, outfits, and backgrounds for a fraction of the cost of using a professional photographer.
3. AI Can Let You Try On Just About Anything
The ability to try on various garments virtually isn’t exactly a new thing; for years, we’ve been able to see what we look like wearing glasses or other accessories. But compared to the AI-enhanced tools available today, the old way of trying things on was primitive at best.
Now, it’s not a far stretch to say that you no longer need to leave the comfort of your home to try on a variety of clothes and cosmetics, with the help of both AR and AI. Doing so is as simple as taking a selfie of yourself and letting the AI model show you how you’ll look in a range of makeup, clothing, and accessory types.
Google’s even gone as far as to allow you to virtually see how a piece of clothing might look on you. How that works is that Google has created a database of real models with a variety of body shapes and skin tones.
From there, you can select clothing from a host of brands, and the AI will basically put the clothes on the model. So, all you have to really do is pick a model that looks as much like you as possible and see what you look like with the clothes on. That sure takes the hassle out of either going to a brick-and-mortar store or risking buying something that might not fit properly and having to return it.
4. AI Is Making Our Beauty Tools Smarter
While most of these AI-enhanced tools and products have focused on enhancing our routines at home, that’s not to say that AI hasn’t made its way into the stores for those times we do leave the comfort of our homes.
The next time you step foot into a dressing room at a major department store in the not-too-distant future, don’t be surprised to be greeted by a smart mirror. This mirror will be able to tell what products you have, recommend products to you, and in the event that something doesn’t fit, you can use the mirror to request a different size.
Smart mirrors are making their way into our homes too, offering all sorts of benefits, from personal assistance to fitness and healthcare. Just wait until generative AI makes its way into smart mirrors, too. From there, you’ll be able to use the mirror to try on clothes, makeup, and even different hairstyles. The future will be a wild place.
Final Words
These days, it’s difficult not to see AI being incorporated into just about every aspect of our lives. And while there are plenty of gimmicky applications for AI across the board, and while startups and big companies alike try to attach AI to just about everything, there are plenty of great applications for AI as well.
Like many areas, the beauty industry has found some uses for AI-powered technology to help you find better and more efficient ways to look your best.
Members of the Laguna Beach Independent Newspaper (the Indy) were not involved in the creation of this content.
