A few days ago, a photo filter app called Prisma made its appearance on the Apple store. Prisma, with a single tap, can turn an image into a work of art, funky, detailed, highly stylised, and very interesting.
The 29 filters mimic the style of well-known painters and styles. The app works for a few moments, taking longer than would a regular filter in the hundreds of one-touch edit apps around, and uses Google's technology, a computer vision program which uses a convolutional neural network to find and enhance patterns in images via algorithmic pareidolia, creating a dreamlike hallucinogenic appearance in the deliberately over-processed images. On the App Store, Prisma has been the second most popular app this summer.
The Prisma app has just been made available to Android users. A free app, not to be confused with hundreds of fake Prisma apps, it requires no work from the user -- and some may not be happy with that. But it isn't just a layer on top of a photo. It's a remake.
The only problem is that the app needs to be connected to the Internet to work. As millions of people begin to try it out (for Prisma is almost getting as popular as Pokemon Go) the servers are unable to take the load, giving frustrated new users a message on Prisma being overcapacity. A problem that the developers will quickly need to address.
Prisma is also interesting because of the way it's almost hijacked human creativity. One touch to come up with a creation that the grandmasters would have been proud of.
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
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