BeautyGAN is the machine learning model that I mentioned in the first class. It was a perfect example of applying Machine Learning technique to something artistic. Published by 6 researchers, BeautyGAN is an intense-level facial makeup transfer with deep learning generative adversarial network. It transfers make-up style from the makeup dataset to someone who does not wear any makeups. From the paper, it says they “achieve automatic makeup transfer with a dual input/output generative adversarial network” and “achieve instance-level style transfer by successfully applying pixel-level histogram losses on local regions”. It also builds a makeup dataset with 3834 images.
You can find the paper here
However, what I want to actually talk about is the use of BeautyGAN. I first discovered this machine learning model on Dazed’s Instagram account. Dazed is a British fashion magazine that has a long history. This year, they released their Dazed Beauty Issue 0, the first issue that focuses on the beauty. For the first issue, they got Kylie Jenner, one of the most influential beauty celebrity in the world, to be on the cover. Different from the traditional cover shooting, Dazed Beauty let Beauty AI does Kylie Jenner’s makeup, which brought the BeautyGAN to the public.
The article explains how would BeautyGAN work in a literal way. “The AI starts out with a data set: 17,000 images pulled from Instagram by the Beauty_GAN team. Those responsible gathered the most
popular and relevant beauty looks they could find, imagery as diverse and colourful as possible, with specs like ‘full face in shot’. They then sorted the imagery into categories and fed it into what is called a discriminator network, where the algorithm begins to learn stereotypical things about the images. It learns to distinguish an eye with make-up from an eye without make-up, or a smiling face versus a frowning face, for example. Eventually, the computer gets so good at distinguishing between categories that it is able to assign categories itself, to differentiate between a beauty selfie or, say, a picture of a dog.”
BeautyGAN provided a new aesthetic for the magazine and the beauty industry. What machine thinks of the beauty and the makeup is uncanny and weird. AI applied trendy makeup to Kylie Jenner, who started the trend, then it had an interesting look on it. When Kylie Jenner started a new trend, millions of people started to copy it. BeautyGAN took all the data and trained the model. When it got applied, it became different than what we thought. Apparently, the machine does not have the same idea as human beings, yet very interesting.