.Actor Sydney Sweeney's fans were cringing after the Anyone But You star had an awkward reaction to a 3D AI-generated portrait of herself at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event in Paris.
During the presentation of Samsung's new "portrait studio" featuring AI-generated avatars, one of the hosts turned to Sweeney. The host explained to her that the company had “used your portrait to generate a 3D image,” before revealing a blurry caricature of a generic blonde woman that bore little resemblance to Sweeney.
The host asked Sweeney for her thoughts, to which the actor laughed rather stiffly and amid awkward silence said:
"Aww, I love it. It’s amazing you can take an image like this.”
You can see Sweeney's reaction in the video below.
Sweeney's reaction reflected what many of her fans were thinking.
Sweeney’s reaction "appears to summarize the collective response to the proliferation of lifeless, uncanny and bizarre AI-generated images that have been steadily polluting the web," wroteForbes writer Dani D. Placido.
Placido added:
"Facebook has fast become a digital graveyard of eerie AI-generated images that have grown increasingly detached from reality."
"Surreal AI-generated images with strange mutations are arguably the most interesting output of generative AI — the problem with Sydney Sweeney’s portrait is that it was bland and lifeless."
"A skilled caricaturist could easily create a striking, recognizable image of Sweeney invoking distinctive aspects of her face and personality, but the AI-generated portrait falls flat because of the lack of intent and perspective—Sweeney just wasn’t in there."
During the event, Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy Ring wearable and showcased its capabilities. The event also introduced other new products, including the Galaxy Buds 3 and 3 Pro, a robust Galaxy Watch Ultra, and a redesigned Galaxy Z Fold 6 featuring squared corners and significantly brighter displays.
In addition to the new smartphone launches, the mid-year event primarily spotlighted two key features: health tracking and the integration of artificial intelligence, continuing the themes from January’s Unpacked event.
