Snapchat's New Year's Resolution: (A)ugment your (R)eality with fun shenanigans
Cat videos would be better... if your face replaced the feline's. That's the earth-shattering revelation behind "Cameos," Snapchat's new feature that superimposes your selfie in a short video. It's the type of viral animation that's core to Snapchat's DNA, so Snap acquired the startup behind Cameos, AI Factory, for a reported $166M last week.
- Location: Uncreatively-named AI Factory is based in Ukraine, with an office in San Francisco to convince those who judge books by their covers.
- Not his first exit: Its founder is Victor Shaburov — who already sold a previous startup to Snap in 2015 (he's the tech artist behind virtual rainbow vomiting).
- Not dangerous (yet): Making a video of one person appear as another is the definition of "Deepfake" (it's a freaky futuristic technology that could potentially cause mahyem on what you think is true). But we tried Snap's Cameos — they're shallowfakes at best.
Cameo > Lenses > Bitmoji... In a leaked 2018 letter to Snappers, CEO Evan Spiegal said 27 times that Snapchat should be "the fastest way to communicate." To accomplish that, text on Snapchat is laughable. Pictures are ok. Videos are better. So Bitmoji (also acquired by Snap), Lenses, and Cameos separate Snap from Instagram, iMessage, and Twitter ('til Insta steals the idea).
Snap is the leader in Augmented Reality. Period... Tech leaders believe AR will replace smartphones, just like smartphones replaced many PCs. Facebook, Apple, and Google are all building headsets and glasses so they don't miss it. Before you strap a computer to your face, Snap's way ahead:
- Those tech giants haven't offered mainstream products yet — and Facebook's chief scientist thinks it'll be 5-10 years before they do.
- Snap has. Its filters, lenses, and Spectacles take your real world, then augment it with humanity-improving dancing hotdogs.