This Website Will Tell You How Old You (+ Celebs) Actually Look
Here’s some Friday fun for you. If you want the Internet to guess your age and gender — though, probably off by a few years… or 10 — try out Microsoft’s How Old site. Trust us, it’s the best way to pass the last few hours of the workweek until tonight’s early Happy Hour ;)
The age-guessing site launched yesterday as a fun side project for some engineers at Microsoft’s Machine Learning group but after they sent it to 50 coworkers + friends, it went viral instantly. Who doesn’t want to be told how old they appear, right? Um.
All you have to do is upload a photo that’s under 3MB in size and the machine-learning site will take a stab at your age and gender. While many are uploading famous faces in addition to their own, I decided to take it upon myself to see how old Microsoft’s app thought I was. I was not impressed with the results. At all.
After uploading a couple of well-lit (and even slightly edited!) shots of myself courtesy of our talented photographers I was expecting to be presented with an age around mine or dare I say, younger. I mean, I thought I looked great in these pro shots. Apparently Microsoft’s How Old tool didn’t think so as I (shockingly!!!) was told I look 32 — twice. Other pictures resulted in 34 and 37. Incorrect again, Microsoft. To provide some clarity, I am a 24-year-old male; not a 32-, 34-, or 37-year-old male.
Luckily for everyone bitter about their age guess like myself, Microsoft promises the site is improving features to perfect its guesses thanks to all of the real-time insight it’s gathering from the photo uploads that are pouring in. Check back next week when I hopefully get within three years of my actual age. In the meantime, happy uploading (and hopefully you have better results than I did).
What age did the #HowOldRobot give you? Was it right or wrong? Let us know in the comments.