Turn your selfies into da Vinci paintings with this brilliant AI tool

Ever wish your selfies looked a little more, er, Renaissance? Well, thanks to the power of AI, you can now convert them into something entirely more painterly. A new web-based app is capable of transforming your face into an artwork in the style of Leonardo da Vinci, and it's pretty impressive.

DaVinciFace uses using artificial intelligence and algorithms to transform your face into something akin to the Mona Lisa in mere minutes. Developed by a Florence-based tech firm, the tool is already proving hugely popular online. (Want to up your selfie game? Check out our roundup of the best camera phones.)

All you have to do is upload a photo to the DaVinciFace website, and you'll be presented with a renaissance-style version in under two minutes. But according to Mathema, the developer of the tool, it's an extremely complex process.

"DaVinciFace leverages Deep Learning technology by using a convolutional neural network, trained on DaVinci’s most famous portraits such as “La Gioconda” or “La Belle Ferronière”, with more than 500 million parameters," the website reads. "Given the high computational capacity required to complete the processing in a reasonable time (now about 100 seconds), the application relies on state-of-the-art graphics hardware."

Mathema told The Art Newspaper that da Vinci's style is particularly hard to emulate through AI. This is because he is known to use Chiaroscuro, a technique in which "shapes are formed directly from colour instead of having a prior drawing that is then coloured.” To learn more, check out our guide to Chiaroscuro art.

From Photoshop's neural filters to that viral Pixar face app, we've seen no shortage of AI-based ways to mess with your face in recent months. Looking for something a little less algorithmic? Take a look at the photo editing craze that's taking over TikTok. 

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