There’s A New Beauty Pageant & It’s Being Judged By Robots

Stop the presses. The first head-scratching beauty news of 2016 has officially arrived, and it's pretty bizarre futuristic. There is now an international beauty pageant judged entirely by artificial intelligence. We'll say it again: This new beauty pageant is judged by robots. Here's how it works: You snap a selfie using a specific app (without makeup, sunglasses, or facial hair, FYI), then upload it to Beauty.ai's site by January 15 of this year. Robots will group the photos based on age, and then analyze each one, looking for "traditional" signs of beauty — angular bone structure, smooth skin, etc. Et voilà, the king and queen with the highest beauty ranks will be announced at the end of this month. Fast? Definitely. Advanced? Probably. Blatant publicity stunt? Surely. This gimmick does, however, bring to light the advancements being made in DIY photo-analysis software. Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov, a consultant for the competition, told TechCrunch that he hopes this technology will eventually be used to help determine the efficacy of your skin-care products, since it can measure tiny details in one's face, or even help diagnose health problems. We suppose it would be nice to see if that eye roller or cream has actually lessened your undereye bags, or if your brown spots have truly diminished after using a serum religiously. And health benefits? Of course, that's a good thing. The pageant aspect, however... How can something so advanced also be so archaic?