Hyper-Realistic Beauty Filters Are Here to Stay超现实美颜滤镜将继续存在

A new filter on TikTok has the internet up in arms1. It’s an important debate for anyone who cares about the future of social media. TikTok的一个新滤镜在互联网上引起了群情激愤。这对于任何一个关心社交媒体未来的人来说都是一场重要的辩论。

You might think that the latest viral example， the Bold Glamour beauty filter on TikTok， isn’t relevant to you. But I’d like to kindly disagree. Let me explain why we should all care about these sorts of augmented-reality2 （AR） filters， regardless of whether we use them or not.

最近一个名为Bold Glamour的美颜滤镜在抖音海外版TikTok上爆火，你可能会认为这与你无关，但我不太认同你的想法，让我解释一下，为什么我们都应该关注这些增强现实滤镜，无论我们是否使用它们。

The Bold Glamour filter contours your cheekbone and jawline in a sharp but subtle line. It also highlights the tip of your nose， the area under your eyebrows， and the apples of your cheeks. In addition， it lifts your eyebrows， applies a shimmer3 to your eyelids， and gives you thick， long， black eyelashes. It has， as the name implies， a glamorous effect.

Bold Glamour滤镜能给你勾勒出清晰精致的颧骨和下颌线。它还能提亮你的鼻尖、眉下区域和苹果肌。此外，它还能让你的眉毛变得立体，把你的眼睑涂亮，让你拥有又浓、又长、又黑的睫毛。正如其名，它的效果大胆又迷人。

The aesthetic itself is impressive. However， the really amazing thing is how well it functions. The filter doesn’t glitch4 when your face moves or if something like a waving hand interrupts the visual field， as filters usually do.

其美感本身是令人印象深刻的。然而，真正令人惊叹的是它的强大功能。移动脸或者挥手挡脸，这个滤镜都不会卡顿，而其他滤镜会。

“You guys. This is a problem. You can’t even tell it’s a filter anymore，” lamented user @rosaura_alvrz as she patted her face to test the filter in a review on TikTok.

“各位，这是个问题，你甚至再分辨不出这是滤镜。”用户@rosaura_alvrz轻轻拍了拍脸测试滤镜，在TikTok上发视频评论道。

Professional filter and AR creator Florencia Solari says Bold Glamour likely employs machine learning， and though it’s not the first time an AI filter has made waves， she says， “The experience with these filters is so seamless， and can achieve such a convincing level of reality， that it’s not a surprise people are freaking out.”

专业滤镜和增强现实创作者弗洛伦西娅·索拉里表示，Bold Glamour很可能应用了机器学习，尽管这不是AI滤镜第一次掀起波澜，但她说，“这些滤镜使用起来十分流畅，还可以达到如此令人信服的真实程度，人们会感到害怕也不奇怪。”

And， indeed， people are freaking out. So how concerned should we be about this distorted-reality world？

确实，人们都吓坏了，那么，我们是否该对这种扭曲现实的世界抱有某种程度的担忧？

First， some context. For years， augmented-reality filters on social media sites like Snap， Instagram， and TikTok have allowed users to easily edit their pictures and videos with preset characteristics that often perpetuate specific beauty standards like plump lips， hollow cheeks， thin noses， and wide eyes.

首先，介绍一下背景。多年来，色拉布、照片墙和TikTok等社交媒体平台上的增强现实滤镜让用户可以轻易编辑他们的照片和视频，这些滤镜预设的特征往往固守特定的审美标准，如丰厚唇、瓜子脸、挺鼻梁和大眼睛。

Beauty filters， in conjunction with influencer culture and algorithmic amplification， have led to a rapid narrowing of beauty standards in a way that prioritizes whiteness and thinness.

美颜滤镜，加上网红文化和算法增强，导致审美标准迅速走向单一，以白和瘦为美。

Young people love using filters （the latest numbers I have from Meta show that over 600 million people have used at least one of its AR products）， but there’s minimal research into the effects on our mental health， identity， and behavior.

年轻人喜欢使用滤镜（我从Meta公司获得的最新数据显示，超过 6 亿人使用过它的至少一款增强现实产品），但关于滤镜对我们心理健康、身份认同和行为的影响的研究却很少。

The research that we do have indicates some serious risks. Girls are more likely than boys to use filters for beautification rather than for play starting at an early age， and social media is known to have negative effects on the mental health and body image of young people. According to a survey conducted by beauty brand Dove， 80% of girls had used filters or photo editing to change their appearance online by the age of 13.

这方面已有的研究表明，存在一些严重的风险。众所周知，社交媒体会对青少年的心理健康和身体形象产生负面影响。女孩比男孩更有可能从小就出于美化目的而非为了好玩去使用滤镜。根据美妆品牌多芬进行的一项调查，80%的女孩在13岁前曾使用滤镜或照片编辑来改变自己在网上的外表。

Still， filters have been around for years. So why are we talking about this now？ Bold Glamour could usher in a new age of high-tech， hyper-realistic beauty filters.

尽管如此，滤镜已存在多年。为什么我们现在才讨论这个问题呢？Bold Glamour可能会开创一个高科技、超现实美颜滤镜的新时代。

We’re likely to see these filters increasingly make use of recent advances in machine learning， specifically generative adversarial networks5 （known as GANs）， in combination with the facial detection technology that’s standard to face filters. The results are so ultra-realistic it’s going to become harder and harder to distinguish what’s real from what’s not.

我们可能会看到这些滤镜越来越多地应用机器学习领域的最新技术，特别是生成对抗网络，与人脸滤镜标配的面部检测技术相结合。其效果极其逼真，以至于辨别真假将变得越来越难。

In February 2023， TikTok released new generative AI tools that help people create filters for the platform， though the company would not tell us whether Bold Glamour does indeed make use of generative AI.

2023 年 2 月，TikTok 发布了新的生成式AI工具，帮助人们为平台创作滤镜，但该公司不愿透露Bold Glamour是否真的使用了生成式AI。

Rather than answering our questions， a TikTok spokesperson provided a statement that read， “Being true to yourself is celebrated and encouraged on TikTok. Creative Effects are a part of what makes it fun to create content， empowering self-expression and creativity. Transparency is built into the effect experience， as all videos using them are clearly marked by default.”