In this age of hyperconnectivity and digitization, eyes are electronic and relentless. The goal is no longer just to confirm how attractive you are or how well you fit today's aesthetic standards: you must look great all the time and accept that we are being analyzed and studied. The interactive documentary “How Normal Am I” reveals how algorithms act as a beauty, age, emotion, and even life-expectancy test, with just a look at your face.
More than once we’ve heard that “health is beauty”, and every time an online test appears trying to calculate how attractive you are, you should know it can also evaluate... other aspects. For example, from a photo of you on Tinder, an AI could estimate your body mass index and affect your chances of getting health insurance. It sounds disturbing, but that is the world today.
Another fundamental problem is accuracy. The “horrors” in AI analysis are very well documented, and researchers constantly warn about bias in their results. So what can we do? For Dutch artist and designer Tijmen Schep, the answer is to explore, study, and criticize these systems. His documentary “How Normal Am I” points in that direction.
How Normal Am I: A different “beauty test”
It’s not enough to share an old photo. In fact, you can’t: to participate in Schep’s interactive documentary, you must have a webcam. The privacy issue is solved from the start, since all processing happens locally in your browser, with no transfers to the cloud.
After a brief introduction, the platform asks your age and then activates the first algorithm, focused on beauty (that is, how attractive you are according to the code). It also explains the most common uses of these algorithms, such as Tinder, or TikTok itself, which prioritizes content from people considered “attractive.” The next algorithm analyzes your age, and the documentary suggests that depending on the position of your face and the light sources, the result can vary greatly.
The BMI assessment can be altered with something as simple as raising your eyebrows. Insurance agencies buy and use this information because, from their position, “it’s better than nothing,” but it’s a worrying logic, since they prefer to adopt incorrect information rather than take a risk.
In short, if you’re interested in artificial intelligence and the effect of algorithms on your life, you should definitely spend a few minutes on How Normal Am I. Maybe it won’t help with dating (don’t give up!), but you’ll learn something new.
Official site (requires webcam): Click here
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