Continuing its acquisition spree, Snapchat's parent company Snap has now bought AI Factory, a Ukrainian computer vision and AI-based startup that earlier collaborated with them to build Snapchat's new Cameos animated selfie-based video feature. According to reports, it would cost Snap $166 million to acquire AI Factory. It had earlier spent $150 million on another Ukraine based startup Looksery in 2015 to power its augmented reality lenses-- and shook up the lens filters game for all social video and photo apps. Lenses became a mega success for Snap where it was reported that 70% of its daily active users play with them, which not just brings in new users, but also increases user retention and revenues by way of sponsorships and the purchase of the devices by users. Founded in 2018, AI Factory has been developing innovative computer vision and augmented reality products with a focus on image and video technologies, analysis and processing.

TikTok parent company ByteDance has built technology to let you insert your face into videos starring someone else. TechCrunch has learned that ByteDance has developed an unreleased feature using life-like Deepfakes technology that the app's code refers to as Face Swap. Code in both TikTok and its Chinese sister app Douyin asks users to take a multi-angle biometric scan of their face, then choose from a selection of videos they want to add their face to and share. Users scan themselves, pick a video, and have their face overlaid on the body of someone in the clip with ByteDance's new Face Swap feature The Deepfakes feature, if launched in Douyin and TikTok, could create a more controlled environment where face swapping technology plus a limited selection of source videos can be used for fun instead of spreading misinformation. It might also raise awareness of the technology so more people are aware that they shouldn't believe everything they see online.

What could be more exciting than seeing yourself starring alongside your favorite actor in a movie, music video, or TV program? Yes, that's possible--well, kind of, by using a new AI-based deepfake app that has gone viral in China over this weekend, climbing to the top of the free apps list in the Chinese iOS App Store in just three days. Dubbed ZAO, the app is yet another deepfake app for iPhone that lets you superimpose your face onto actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Kit Harrington from "Game of Thrones," and many others in video clips from their popular movies and TV shows with just a selfie uploaded by you. Developed by Chinese developer MoMo, one of China's most popular dating apps, ZAO was released on Friday (August 30) and rapidly got downloaded millions of times with users being excited about the experience for the app's realistic face-swapping videos that last for as little as 8 seconds. ZAO Deepfake Face Swap App Sparks Privacy Outcry However, ZAO faced a sudden backlash from some users concerned about the potential misuse of deepfake technology.

Zao, a free deepfake face-swapping app that's able to place your likeness into scenes from hundreds of movies and TV shows after uploading just a single photograph, has gone viral in China. Bloomberg reports that the app was released on Friday, and quickly reached the top of the free charts on the Chinese iOS App Store. And like the FaceApp aging app before it, the creators of Zao are now facing a backlash over a perceived threat to user privacy. Twitter user Allan Xia posted a neat demonstration of what the app is capable of yesterday with a 30 second clip of their face replacing Leonardo Dicaprio in famous moments from several of his films. According to Xia, the clips were generated in under eight seconds from just a single photograph, however Bloomberg notes that the app can also guide you through the process of taking a series of photographs -- where it will ask you to open and close your mouth and eyes -- to generate more realistic results.

For 30 seconds, anyone in China can now take the place of Leonardo DiCaprio in some of his most iconic roles -- and all it takes is a smartphone and a bit of personal data. The Chinese app Zao has surged in popularity over the past few days to become the country's top smartphone app, and descriptions of what it does have gone viral on social media in the U.S. The app's appeal is simple: Upload a photo and it will swap DiCaprio's face with a user's in a 30-second mashup of clips from his films. Or it can do the same with a character from "Game of Thrones," or with a performer in a music video. The app is only available in China, though some people outside the country have been able to get around that restriction. It's as easy as using a photo filter on Instagram or Snapchat, according to people who have used it, but it also demonstrates the remarkable power of advances in artificial intelligence to make fake videos.

Up until now, 'deepfake' technology has remained bubbling under the surface, just out of a mainstream audience's reach. A new app called ZAO, available on iTunes in China, threatens that. The app has shot up the Chinese charts in the few days since its release, effectively making deepfakes mainstream. The results are equal parts impressive and terrifying. Here's what you need to know.

ZAO, a viral Chinese app that uses AI to face-swap users and famous actors, is now embroiled in a major privacy controversy. The news: On Friday, a new app released by Momo, a social-media developer, instantly went viral on Chinese social media. It allows users to upload a single portrait and, within seconds, see their face superimposed onto actors in iconic movie scenes. By Sunday, it had become the most downloaded free entertainment app in China's Apple Store. While GANs have been used for face-editing and face-swapping before (increasingly so in Hollywood films), ZAO's use of a single photo, coupled with the speed and seamlessness of its swap, demonstrates how far the state of the art in media fakery has advanced.

Chinese face-swap app Zao rocketed to the top of app store charts over the weekend, but user delight at the prospect of becoming instant superstars quickly turned sour as privacy implications began to sink in. Launched recently, Zao is currently topping the free download chart on China's iOS store. Its popularity has also pushed another face-swap app, Yanji, to fifth place on the list. Behind Zao is a company fully owned by Chinese hookup and live-streaming service Momo Inc. Users of the app upload a photo of themselves to drop their likeness into popular scenes from hundreds of movies or TV shows. It's a chance to be the star and swap places with the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Leonardo DiCaprio or Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory in a matter of moments.

'You oughta be in pictures," goes the 1934 Rudy Vallée song. And, as of last week, pretty much anyone can be. The entry requirements for being a star fell dramatically thanks to the launch, in China, of a face-swapping app that can decant users into film and TV clips. Zao, which has quickly become China's most downloaded free app, fuses the face in the original clip with your features. All that is required is a single selfie and the man or woman in the street is transformed into a star of the mobile screen, if not quite the silver one. In other words, anyone who yearns to be part of Titanic or Game of Thrones, The Big Bang Theory or the latest J-Pop sensation can now bypass the audition and go straight to the limelight without all that pesky hard work, talent and dedication. A whole new generation of synthetic movie idols could be unleashed upon the world: a Humphrey Bogus, a Phony Curtis, a Fake Dunaway. Zao already has its first star: the 30-year-old artist and games developer Allan Xia, who unwittingly became the face of the app last weekend after inserting himself into a Leonardo DiCaprio montage. Western media outlets hadn't paid much attention to Zao, which can only be accessed by users with a Chinese phone account, until Xia, who is based in Auckland but has a Chinese number, uploaded his experiments. After that, every media story covering the app came embedded with a clip of him strutting around in a Hawaiian shirt in Romeo Juliet, and basking in the golden sunset on deck in Titanic. How long did it take to claw himself to the top of the A-list? All I did was take a selfie, which was then ranked by the app to give me an idea of how well it would be able to generate videos based on my photo. It's looking to match your facial features to what is already there in its library of clips."

Fox News Flash top headlines for September 4 are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com Zao, a Chinese app that uses "deepfake" technology to let users superimpose themselves onto the faces of movie and TV stars, has sparked a privacy backlash amid concerns about identity theft. Deepfakes are created using artificial intelligence and facial mapping technology to yield false, but realistic clips. Celebrities and public figures, such as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, have been "featured" in deepfake videos.