Introduced in 2016, the Google Arts and Culture app has gone viral in recent days, namely because of an update that lets users compare their selfies to famous works of art. Essentially, the app allows users to fulfill a life’s dream they never knew they had by finding their fine-art doppelgänger.
The update may seem a little silly, but the simplicity and ridiculousness of it is why it has taken off. Using the app takes less than a minute; all you have to do is take a selfie. The pairing process isn’t always all that accurate — after all, it has to analyze your face and then scour thousands upon thousands of historical portraits — but that’s one of the best aspects of Google’s budding feature.
In fact, these inaccuracies have caused a handful of celebrities to post their results on various social media platforms. Here are some of the best (and worst) pairings we’ve come across in the past week or so. Just a note, at the moment the feature in the app is only available in select regions of the U.S.
The Google Arts & Culture app apparently didn’t put Bell in a good place.
This google arts and culture app is pretty amazing. Feel real strong about my 40% 😳 pic.twitter.com/2iyexRkUG5
— pw (@petewentz) January 14, 2018
Apparently, Wentz — aka, The Patron Saint of Liars and Fakes — is Pretty in Punk.
Who among us hasn’t confused a tongue with a carrot?
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd4GPYhhfZe/?hl=en&taken-by=busyphilipps
In a past life, Busy Phillips once made the first nonstop flight from New York to Paris in a single-engine plane that she lovingly named the Spirit of St. Louis.
Google is still upset by the fact that Who’s the Boss never truly answered who was the boss.
https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/952329304259489793
As Nanjiani astutely points out, the Arts and Culture app can actually do what it’s supposed to do from time to time.
From a facial feature standpoint, the app nails Braff, which is likely why he is feeling very “#blessed.”
Edvard Munch, a renowned Norwegian painter from the 19th century, definitely had Driver in mind when painting The Scream. Let us just say he was ahead of the times.
https://twitter.com/RonFunches/status/953741756171866112
A great smile equals a fantastic fine-art doppelgänger.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd9m2CZFV8l/
Somehow Google was able to channel Wu’s inner persona from a single selfie. Truly amazing technology.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.