People can't get enough of Google's Arts and Culture app
You’ve probably noticed that your friends are sharing photos of themselves and their painting doppelgängers — have you seen it? On the left side is a mug shot-style photo of your mom or co-worker, and on the right is artwork that supposedly looks likes the subject. It’s strange — and it has taken over the internet.
Well, we all have Google to thank for this latest viral sensation. The company made an update to its Google Arts and Culture app with a brand-new feature: face match. The app prompts you to take a selfie, as it searches through thousands of historical paintings that look like you. Thousands have answered the question, “Is your portrait in a museum?”
The answer is not likely, but people certainly had a hilarious time discovering their painting look-alikes.
— jack (@jack) January 15, 2018
Special thanks to the google arts & culture app’s doppelgänger feature for keeping me humble. pic.twitter.com/dhTese3mE5
— Susie Meister (@susie_meister) January 14, 2018
I don’t think I’d seen either of these pieces of work until Google matched me with them. pic.twitter.com/u2ZJoMlVVW
— deray (@deray) January 14, 2018
While most people were pleased, or at least amused, by their results, others were outraged at the app’s responses.
this is why i dont trust technology @Google pic.twitter.com/KbUpJTscAb
— BoJack Horseman (@BoJackHorseman) January 15, 2018
Well, it’s time to accept this. Lots of selfies later and I’m consistently matched with this painting of a corpse #GoogleArtsandCulture pic.twitter.com/XQNQAUEYdW
— Hilary Gray (@HilaryLGray) January 13, 2018
Jimmy Kimmel even gave the app a try and of course cracked a few jokes about President Donald Trump while doing so.
The celebrity reactions, though, may have been the best of the bunch. Gotta say, some of these results aren’t that far off. Well, except maybe Sarah Silverman’s — but we’re gonna chalk that up to user error.
A post shared by Kate Hudson (@katehudson) on Jan 14, 2018 at 4:55pm PST
A post shared by kristen bell (@kristenanniebell) on Jan 14, 2018 at 3:26pm PST
A post shared by Jim Parsons (@therealjimparsons) on Jan 14, 2018 at 1:34pm PST
A post shared by @ sarahkatesilverman on Jan 14, 2018 at 4:12pm PST
Have you given Google’s viral app a try?