Two ex-TikTok employees have launched a new iOS app that uses artificial intelligence to instruct users on how to pose for photographs.
Superpose
Melody Chu and Jing Liu are behind the project. Chu previously held product roles at Meta, Nextdoor, Roblox, TikTok, and Slack. Liu was a founding engineer at a 3D face-scanning startup before working on image and video models at TikTok.
The app, called Superpose, functions as a camera tool. A user can take a selfie or photograph a friend. The software then generates four potential poses using AI. Some suggestions are elaborate, while others appear uncanny.
Users can save these generated poses or use a match-pose feature to position themselves within the frame according to the suggestions.
Origin story
Chu stated the concept arose from a personal issue: her husband could not take good photos of her.
“My husband just takes awful photos of me. It was a true pain point in our marriage where I don’t understand how he gets me to look just so terrible all the time. And I thought to myself, there has to be a way to solve this problem with advancements in computer vision and generative AI. And I decided to set out on my own,” Chu told TechCrunch.
Adoption and pricing
Superpose launched in July. The app has been downloaded over 22,000 times so far. Users have generated more than 190,000 poses.
The service provides five free generations daily. Users can purchase a pack of five additional generations for $2.99, or 20 generations for $9.99.
Focus on reality
Chu acknowledges other companies are entering the AI-guided photography space. Superpose aims to become the best camera for taking portrait photos by following AI directions.
The startup does not intend to create AI backgrounds or images. It wants to concentrate on real-life photographs.
“We want to lean into the core of memory capture versus, say, putting you in a fantastical place that you’ve never been. I think there are so many apps that do that well already, but we really wanna focus on actually capturing the lived moment and experience,” Chu said.
Chu noted some pose suggestions might seem uncanny. The company is working to improve this. It is also developing better generation styles, personalization, and methods to coach users directly from the viewfinder.
Funding
Superpose has raised $2.2 million in funding from Khosla Ventures, Chinese smartphone and selfie app maker Meitu, and OVTR VC.
