New Google Tool Lets You Turn Selfies Into Emoji

Emoji have become an integral part of the way we communicate in the digital space, and libraries of figures and expressions are ever-growing. But wouldn’t it be great if you could translate your own features rather than settling for a rough approximation? Google’s newest Allo feature is here to do just that by turning user selfies into emoji.

Machine learning technology — which is beginning to more closely mimic human learning — is behind the new feature on Google chat app Allo that translates selfies into wild illustrations. In its Thursday exclusive, Fast Company reported the feature is now accessible when users pull up the stickers function to respond to a message. Users are then prompted to snap their photo.

After a user has taken a selfie, Google’s ML tech will analyze the photo and translate facial features into illustrations by Lamar Abrams, a designer for the Cartoon Network series “Steven Universe.” Fast Company reported that “ literally hundreds of eyes and noses and face shapes and hairstyles and glasses available.” Google reportedly estimates that there are 563 quadrillion faces that could be generated by the feature.

After the app generates an emoji from the selfie, users can tweak individual features until they’re satisfied with the face. Then, the feature will generate 22 custom stickers using the design, Fast Company reported.

Read: New Emojis 2017: 69 Characters Revealed Ahead Of Summer Release

The tool reportedly started as an internal research project to see if ML could translate a selfie into a cartoon, said Jason Cornwell, Google's Communications UX Lead.

“How do you make something that doesn’t just convey what you look like but how you want to project yourself?” he asked. “That’s an interesting problem. It gets to ML and computer vision but also human expression. That’s where Jennifer came in. To provide art direction about how you might convey yourself.”

The long term goals of Google are to apply the technology to more experiences, Fast Company reported. With features like this one, Google hopes to become the leader in digital communication.

“What we're doing with Allo is trying to find all the ways that ML can make messaging better,” Cornwell said. “From saying the right thing at the right time to conveying the right emotion at the right time.”