August 7, 2012 3:30 pm
Facial Recognition Software Makes Art from Random Noise
Faces created using Phil McCarthy’s Pareidoloop.
English developer Phil McCarthy took the tendency for humans to see faces in just about anything, called pareidolia, and abused it with a computer program that can do a pretty good impression of an angsty teenager taking first year digital art classes.
McCarthy’s creation takes random computer-generated polygons and “then feeds the results through facial recognition software” says Adam Norwood . Given enough time, the image pushes closer and closer to looking like an abstract art portrait.
The program, which McCarthy named Pareidoloop, in honor of pareidolia, is a refreshing — and slightly disturbing — way to kill some time.
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