Snapchat 'Cameo' Feature Puts Your Face Into Videos: Best Deepfake App Yet?

Snapchat is testing a new feature that allows users to superimpose their faces on videos, which makes for a whole lot of fun.

Deepfake technology has been around for some time now. This technology is advancing at a very fast rate that it's possible for the average person to have access to it in just a few month's time – and that time appears to be now.

Popular multimedia messaging app Snapchat is testing a new feature called “Cameo.” The new feature essentially acts like low-budget deepfake technology: it essentially edits a person's face into a video, superimposing that person's face into another face. Snap hasn't officially revealed the feature yet, but will announce it on Dec. 9 after it confirmed it's existence with TechCrunch.

The feature was first spotted by a Twitter user named Mike, who found that the feature is already undergoing exclusive testing in France. A slew of tweets from French Snapchat users reveal how the feature looks like.

How it works

As per TechCrunch, the Cameo feature is easy to use. Users will first need to teach Snapchat how they look like by taking a selfie. The app prefers that users “try not to smile” when taking the shot. After taking a selfie, users will need to choose if they want to put their face on a male or female body.

Once the selfie is taken and the body is chosen, users will be able to create edited videos by accessing Cameo via the Bitmoji button on the Snapchat keyboard.

Users will be able choose from 150 short video clips, all of them looping and with sound. These videos feature a variety of scenes, such as a person flaunting a lot of money, eating lots of food, or surfing on the beach.

Once a user picks a video, Snapchat does the heavy lifting of deepfaking his face into it so that it can be sent. Cameos also allows several users to join in on one video clip. Snapchat will add more videos users can choose from every week.

Fears and Fun

Deepfake technology is seen to have a lot of uses depending on whoever is using it. While some fear that it can be used to manipulate others, it can also be used to bring smiles to people. Snapchat's Cameos feature, as per Mashable, appears to be designed for the latter.