In a machine learning experiment that's taken social vanity to new heights, Microsoft has created a website that tells you how old you look just by analyzing your photo.

You're only as old as you think you are.

Or in this case, as old as a computer algorithm thinks you are.

Sometimes it's dead on. Other times it's hilariously, outrageously wrong.

It's simple: Upload a selfie, wait a few seconds -- then the machine gives you a number.

And since it can analyze anyone's photo, you can compare yourself to your friends, family, and foes.




MANNY AND FLOYD PICTURE


But guessing someone's age is a dangerous game, even for a robot. That's probably why the site comes with a sheepish apology. "Sorry if we didn't quite get the age and gender right," it says after each result.

The company unveiled the website at a conference Thursday as a way to show off its new software.

Part of a new initiative called Project Oxford, Microsoft says you could use this face detection technology for tasks like sorting through a large photo collection.

But we're human -- so we'll probably just use it to judge our own looks.

And everyone else's.

WEBSITE: http://how-old.net/


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