AI clothes editing apps make a buzz in Vietnam

On the Apple App Store, AI photo editing apps such as Beautycam, BeautyPlus and Fitroom rank among the most downloaded apps in Vietnam since Feb. 19.

The trend started after Beautycam, developed by Chinese tech firm Meitu, launched a feature called "AI Wardrobe" on 18 February, allowing users to upload photos of themselves and change their outfits out of a selection of around 70 choices. The change takes one or two minutes, and produces a new image with the new outfit while the background and face remain unchanged.

Though the outfits are categorized as men’s, women’s, boys’, and girls’, users can freely choose the outfit they want to add to their photos.

Beautycam's AI Wardrobe interface. Photo by Luu Quy

Following Beautycam up the charts were BeautyPlus and Fitroom, which sport similar features. BeautyPlus's "AI Replacer" lets users highlight and change parts of a picture with a text prompt, including clothing items. Fitroom allows users to upload custom items to preview using existing personal pictures or a standard selection.

The increasing popularity of the apps is causing many photos of people wearing the same outfits to pop up all over social media.

While they are appreciated for their realistic edits, experts warn of potential risks such as misinformation and information security breach. "I sent an AI-edited picture to my boyfriend, and he didn’t suspect a thing; he even advised me to dress more conservatively," Hoang Lan, a user in Hanoi, said after trying out Beautycam. "He only believed it was edited once I showed him a picture of himself wearing the same dress as me."

On social media, many people are impressed by AI’s outfit-editing capabilities. "I thought all those pictures were real until I saw three or four of my friends wearing the same dress with the same body shape," Tuan Anh of HCMC said.

What’s special about these apps is that they can make a clean edit even when the subject is not directly facing the camera. In some cases, they even change your pose, limbs’ orientation or hairstyle. But they do struggle if there are multiple people in the frame, unable to identify who the subject is.

Besides the entertainment factor, the apps could potentially be used by fashion retailers, helping users try on clothing items before purchase.

But the realistic quality of the editing poses the risks of creating hoax, untruthful and offensive images. Thu Huyen of Hanoi, one such victim, said: "After seeing a photo of me edited by my friend as a joke, my mother called me in the middle of the night to ask why I wore such a revealing outfit in public." She enjoys using the app, but is also worried about being clothed in an offensive outfit. "Another friend of mine was also criticized after appearing to wear a revealing dress at a temple," she added.

Like other AI apps, Beautycam requires a network connection and permissions to collect device data and access users’ photos. This can lead to user data being accessed and used illegally. In its terms of service, Meitu includes a notice that the photo editing feature is restricted to users aged 13 and above.

For a seven-day free trial users must sign up for an annual subscription of VND469,000 (US$18). Users will be charged after six days if they do not cancel.

Experts advise discretion when using apps of this kind. Users should provide the minimum permissions needed, ask for permission before using someone else’s photos, and indicate the use of AI when uploading on social media to avoid misinformation, they added.