Google Allo can now turn your selfie picture into a sticker pack

Our obsession with taking selfies with our smartphones continues, and likely will stick around for some time. However, what if you could use that selfie for more than just posting on Instagram or Twitter? Rolling out now to Allo on Android, Google has included a feature that will turn your selfie into a sticker pack.

In a blog post, Google stated that this new Allo feature uses a combination of a computer vision algorithm with artwork created by humans to generate the sticker pack illustrations. Google started this research by experimenting with some of its neural networks, which were already programmed to ignore things they didn’t need to deal with when scanning an image. Then the development team created an algorithm based on human examples of what they see as qualitative features in a picture, such as eye color, so the neural networks could focus on those qualities in a human selfie image.

Google also worked with a team of artists to help create the selection of illustrations that were needed for the sticker packs. Ultimately, there are 563 quadrillion different combinations of sticker images that can be generated from that artwork. If the sticker pack that’s generated from your selfie is not to your liking, Allo also allows you to customize the artwork with a different hairstyle, skin color, nose shape, and more.

Google says the art style in this first version of the selfie sticker pack feature will be followed by others in the future, and even hints that one of them could turn your selfie into a dog. The feature will be added to the iOS version of Allo in the near future. Keep in mind that this update to the Android Allo app is just starting to roll out and it may take a few days to reach your device.