AI Determines “Who’s The Fairest of Them All”
By: Bec Harris
The dangerous rise of AI beauty rankings
Cyber Security expert, Rebekah Nijsen, discusses “Omoggle”, the app where AI judges users by their appearance.
What is Omoggle?
“It is a web-based live video chat that pairs 2 random users from across the world via webcam. So that’s the first aspect of it. ‘Omoggle‘ comes from a slang term for ‘look maxing’, which is the online culture that determines that a physical dominance over a person on their physical appearance.”
AI Determines the Score
Through this platform, users battle each other over how others rate their physical appearance. They use AI for facial analysis and determine a score.
“It looks at things like eye lift, jawline, skin tones, aspects like that. This only takes a few seconds and then a score is introduced. Now the winner is known as the ‘Mogger’ and the loser is known as ‘Mogged’ and that comes from the term mogging which comes through the lookmaxing culture.”
Viral Battles of Looksmaxxing
These battles are now going viral via live streaming platforms, like “Twitch” and “Kick”, so wider audiences now watch these battles.
“The people who jump on and have a look at these battles have the ability to encourage users or mock losers, which creates a pack mentality.”
This has the power to cause psychological triggers in young people, based on what AI is rating them. People as young as 12 are falling prey to shallow comparison and mockery.
“It’s web-based, which means you have internet connection and you have a webcam, then anyone can access it. It is an 18+ site, but all you have to do is click ‘yes, I’m over 18’ and you’re straight in. There’s no further age verification checks.”
“‘Twitch’ and ‘Kick’ are age restricted platforms under cyber-security legislation. However, ‘Omoggle’ is not.”
Parents – Start a Conversation
Rebekah said that parents need to have open conversations and chats with their children about physical appearances.
“Ask, ‘What do you think about physical appearance allowing you to have status in the online world. What do you like about yourself?”
Helping children to understand character being more valuable than status can help them with their self-esteem.
“We can do that in our conversations, but also by modelling that behaviour ourselves,” said Rebekah.
“Are they seeing that our most important thing is, putting our face on for the day and putting, makeup? Those things aren’t bad things. Absolutely not. I wear makeup.”
She argued to that end, if parents are so obsessed with health, eating and appearance, it can get noticed and imitated. Conversations and behaviour modelled at home enables them to have a healthier lens on how they view the world.
Know What Your Kids Are Viewing
Rebekah said the most important advice for parents to take heed of is to know what our kids are watching.
“We do that by physically seeing what they’re doing and making sure the devices are outside the bedrooms so we can actually see how they’re interacting online, but also by having those continual conversations with them and saying, ‘What did you see online today? Or, hey, I’ve seen this new craze come through. What are your opinions about it?’”
She argued that many kids would be outraged about it, because our kids are very switched on.
“We’re starting to see a switch with our kids starting to be a bit more empathetic and realizing, hey, we can be part of the solution here by calling out this behaviour.”
Encourage Their Opinion
Rebekah said this needs to be encouraged and fostered in the home so that kids feel like they have a voice.
“If we can actually say, ‘What you say is important and we’re going to give you a platform in the house to have an opinion,’ whether we agree with it or not. Hopefully that then teaches them that their voice matters. And then they can then start being the positive influence.”
Rebekah said there will always be a new app invented, hopefully with more conditions, but if parents look at the fundamentals of culture and what we are allowing our kids to view, we can then teach them to be critical in what they see as well.
Article supplied with thanks to Sonshine.
Feature image: Canva
