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Artisse makes perfect personal photography accessible to all

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October 14, 2023

Artisse makes perfect personal photography accessible to all

Everyone should be able to create perfect photos of themselves, no matter your background situation, or experience level.
The app allows users to generate unlimited photos of themselves in any setting, posture, clothing, hairstyle, or facial expression.
The startup has raised $6m in Seed funding from a UK investor and plans to raise $10m in Series A funding this year.

Image enhancement apps with artificial intelligence can now turn your selfie pictures into hyper-realistic self-portraits and more visually appealing without the need for complex software or a professional photographer.

Hong Kong-based Artisse, a new kid on the block, claims to be the world’s first AI photographer despite many others out there on the app stores.

William Wu, the founder of Artisse, told TechChannel News that they have an AI technology that can replicate or produce super life-like photos and can produce any photos of anyone pretty much perfectly in a myriad of scenarios, outfits, hairstyles and more or even adjust lighting and ambience to match the mood.

People take more than 2.3 billion photos across the globe daily, he said and yet, the process of capturing the perfect shot remains complex, time-consuming and out of reach for many.

High demand

“Amateurs can take professional photoshoots with Artisse. The demand for consumer personal photos around the world in platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, etc., and B2B advertisements regularly pay a huge amount to do so. The market for photo creation is huge but very difficult to create professional photos.”

Moreover, he said that more than two billion Instagram users are posting many photos every day while the digital ad spend is worth $885 billion and $20 billion modelling agency turnover.

“For an average person to create an Instagram photo has to do their hair, and makeup and get out there for someone to take photos and a photographer. You need to pose for photos to take 100s of photos and edit them all. It is a pretty long journey and it is not just cost and time, you have to have a lot of expertise to create and take good photos.”

Power of perfect photos

The basic principle of Artisse is to upload 15 photos and let the AI train itself off your face and it takes about 40 minutes, similar to Remini and other AI photo apps on the market.

After the AI has trained itself once, Wu said that it is easy and you can take any natural photos of yourself from any place, just sitting on your sofa.

“We are just putting the power of perfect photos on to hands of everyone. We already have more than 150,000 downloads and the top new free photo app in Google Play Store in 20 different countries, as per AppBrain,” he said.

Even though it is free to download and with in-app payments when started, it has now become behind a paywall and the reason Wu said is that they have a cost to generate photos so “we went behind a paywall as we are seeing more downloads every day.”

However, he said that they will be launching a trial version soon.

Photos: A form of social currency

There are many similar apps such as Remini, Picsart, PicCollage, and AI Art Photo Editor, to name a few in the Google and Apple app stores and what makes Artisse stand out.

For this, Wu said that the difference is like between V1 and V10 automobile engines.

“When you open up Remini, you cannot type what you want and there are around 40 templates you can choose from. The background is either one or two colours and they don’t look natural. Sometimes it doesn’t look like you.

“As long as you train the AI correctly, the photo will not look like you. The flexibility is not there on Remini. Remini is like a very early version of ours and others are similar to Remini,” he said.

Moreover, he said that young people use photos as a form of social currency and it is more important than money for certain people.

“The audience we find is very broad and people do not want any photos to be uploaded and they want good photos as profiles. There are media influencers globally who are heavy users of good photos every day,” he said.

This will be the new way of taking photos in the future by using AI, he said and added that they are creating the world’s first AI advertisement company by using the same technology.

Bringing dead celebrities back to life

“We can bring dead celebrities, such as Marilyn Monroe, back to life in a matter of minutes. We are doing test cases with 10 big clients and hope to sign contracts in the coming weeks,” Wu said.

“Our technology can create incremental revenue opportunities for models with simple inputs, without their physical involvement in the advertising process to drive increased revenue to models, and unlock significant opportunities for the commercialization of intellectual property across the creative advertising landscape.”

Among the app downloads, he said that two-thirds are females and have downloaded from every part of the world.

“We have around 10 per cent downloads from the UAE and Saudi Arabia despite not doing any marketing.”

The startup has raised $6 million in Seed funding from a UK investor and plans to raise $10 million in Series A funding this year.

Wu wants Artisse to be the number one app for taking pictures and creating the world’s biggest AI advertising company and the world’s largest AI talent agency as well.

The app is available on Google and Apple stores in 13 languages, including Hindi and Arabic.

External threats to jump in the Middle East next year

Naushad K. Cherrayil

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October 10, 2023

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External threats to jump in the Middle East next year

87% of respondents anticipate they will experience one, with fraud noted by 25% of respondents as the biggest potential threat.
52% of the respondents expect to spend significantly in physical security next year, above the global average.
Companies expect to invest more in emerging or cutting-edge technology in a year’s time but finding people with the appropriate skills were the most challenging.

External threats are expected to jump in the Middle East in the next year compared to last year due to economic and social unrest, according to a G4S report.

87 per cent of respondents anticipating they will experience one, with fraud noted by 25 per cent of respondents as the biggest potential threat.

The second biggest is malicious damage to company property, expected by 24 per cent of those surveyed.

In 2022, external threats were lower than the world average with 78 per cent having experienced an incident.

The most common was fraud, experienced by 22 per cent of respondents, followed by phishing and social engineering, impacting 20 per cent of those surveyed.

“The impact of hazards is expected to increase significantly in the coming year, anticipated by 91 per cent of companies. Economic unrest is expected to jump to 44 per cent and climate change hazards are also likely to rise, according to 41 per cent surveyed,” the World Security Report said.

Economic criminals

Threat actor groups impacted 69 per cent of companies in the Middle East over the last year, below the global average of 76 per cent and this is expected to jump in the next 12 months to 84 per cent.

“Economic criminals were the threat actor group that most affected the Middle East, reported by 41 per cent and above the global average, while 36 per cent said they were affected by subversives – hackers, protestors, or spies. The threat from subversives is expected to soar with 50 per cent expecting to be impacted, while the threat from economic criminals will also increase, according to 48 per cent,” the report said.

52 per cent of the respondents expect to spend significantly in physical security next year, above the global average and beaten only by North America.

Security budget priorities

“Domestic security concerns and rising operating costs are driving this. Security budget priorities will be focused on introducing new technology and training staff, reported by 59 per cent and 52 per cent of respondents, respectively.”

Moreover, basic or minimal technology is used by 42 per cent of companies, the highest of any region suggesting the Middle East is behind the curve in technology uptake.

Companies expect to invest in technology with 47 per cent reporting they want to be using emerging or cutting-edge technology in a year’s time. This lags the global ambition of 52 per cent.

Lack of internal expertise

“The biggest barrier to using technology was a lack of internal expertise reported by 44 per cent of companies, higher than the global average of 35 per cent. Over the next five years artificial intelligence (AI) and biometrics will be the biggest areas of investment, in line with global trends.”

However, the report cited that hiring the right people in the Middle East was less challenging than every other region apart from SubSaharan Africa, with 47 per cent of participants finding it extremely or very challenging to find the right people.

$1tr revenue lost

“Finding people with the appropriate skills were the most challenging according to 49 per cent of respondents. The three most important qualities in security professionals are: integrity and honesty, a strong understanding of technology and industry specific experience,” report said.

The world is an increasingly dangerous place and the hazards and threats that companies face are ever more complex and multidimensional.

In 2022 alone, more than $1 trillion in revenue was lost by global companies as a consequence of internal and external physical security incidents and this is similar to the monetary impact caused by cyber incidents.

One in four (25 per cent) publicly-listed companies reported a drop in their corporate value in the last 12 months following an external or internal security incident.

Insider threat and violence against staff in India are highest in Asia Pacific

Mohammed Fahad

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October 10, 2023

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Insider threat and violence against staff in India are highest in Asia Pacific

Fraud is anticipated by 39% of CSO to be the most concerning internal security threat over the coming year compared with a regional average of 28%.
India is the highest country in the region and second highest country globally behind South Africa to expect the disruption of energy supplies to be a security-impacting hazard next year.
CSOs plan to make use of several technologies such as internet of things, biometrics and facial recognition technology in their physical security operations.
More CSOs to use drones, unmanned aerial systems, smart cities and smart buildings technology than anywhere else in the region.

The threat of insider fraud and violence against employees are anticipated to be greater security threats in India in the coming year than anywhere else in Asia Pacific.

According to World Security Report, published by G4S, fraud – deception intended to result in gain – committed by employees in India is anticipated by 39 per cent of CSO to be the most concerning internal security threat over the coming year compared with a regional average of 28 per cent.

Just under a third of CSOs, at 29 per cent, said external fraud will be a threat to their company compared with a regional average of 22 per cent.

“Violence against employees will be a greater external threat in India at 36 per cent than any other country in the world with the exception of Kenya. At 38 per cent, CSOs view violence against employees as a greater internal threat than anywhere else in Asia Pacific – the regional average is 17 per cent,” the report said.

“While cybersecurity often dominates the headlines, the report shows that physical security incidents are just as concerning for CSOs, if not more so. It also highlights the sheer range – and volume – of security-related challenges the country faces,” Rajeev Sharma, Managing Director for G4S India, said.

Some of these, he said are long-standing – for example, violence against employees could easily relate to the safety of female workers when travelling alone – while others, such as climate change, are more recent concerns that CSOs are now grappling with.

Supply chain attacks

However, the report said that supply chain attacks are also expected to be more of an external security threat in India than any other country globally next year, while theft of company physical property is expected to be a greater internal threat than any other country in the region.

CSOs say that subversives – hackers, protestors, spies – pose the most concern out of all threat actor groups next year at 57 per cent, up from 45 per cent last year. India is the joint second highest country in the region alongside Thailand to view this group as a threat.

Geopolitical tensions

Sanjay Verma, Regional CEO G4S Asia Pacific, said that Asia Pacific is a hugely important and dynamic region for the world’s biggest businesses, with their manufacturing and global supply chains often based in the region, while also being at the epicentre of increasing geopolitical tensions.

“The year ahead looks set to be a challenging one, with Asia Pacific expecting to be heavily impacted by economic unrest. Security leaders are cognisant of this and very focused on their security preparedness as the region recovers post-Pandemic and with a healthy rate of growth expected in 2023.”

Turning to security-impacting hazards, India is the second highest country in the region – and fifth highest country globally – to expect climate change to be a genuine security-impacting hazard next year at 52 per cent. This compares with a regional average of 40 per cent and a global average of 38 per cent.

At 50 per cent, India is the highest country in the region – and second highest country globally behind South Africa – to expect the disruption of energy supplies to be a security-impacting hazard next year. The regional average is 32 per cent and the global average is 33 per cent.

To use advanced technology

The report goes on to find that CSOs plan to make use of several advances in technology in their physical security operations.

Top of the list is biometrics and facial recognition technology, which 59 per cent of respondents in India say they will use over the next five years. The regional average is 41 per cent and the global average 40 per cent.

More CSOs in the country also say they will use drones and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and smart cities and smart buildings technology than anywhere else in the region.

In terms of the financial cost of internal and external security incidents, more than a third of CSOs, at 38 per cent, say they have lost revenue as a consequence over the last year. This is the second highest percentage in the region behind Taiwan.

Expansion on the radar

Rawan Baddour, Co-founder of Zest Equity said that the startup was born to encourage better communication, transparency and process standardisation within private market transactions.

“At its core, what Zest is building is a convenient and comprehensive tool designed to cut the costs and complexities involved in traditional private market transactions. Our platform digitises the transaction process making it easier for existing stakeholders (founders, investors, and employees) of private companies to transact and benefit from liquidity, in a pre-approved and transparent manner.”

Zest will also use the funds to expand its product offering in the MENA region.

Walid Mansour, Co-CEO, Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), said that Zest Equity has already proven to be a valuable and dependable solution for digitising private market transactions in the Middle East in a relatively short time.

“As more startups and investors mature, they inevitably seek more avenues to liquidity and opportunity. This clearly illustrates that our ecosystem’s need for this solution is growing. Rawan and Zuhair understand this need firsthand and have built an incredible team and product in response. Betting on them was easy.”

Use of old Wi-Fi standards is limiting fibre’s potential in the GCC

Naushad K. Cherrayil

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October 9, 2023

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Use of old Wi-Fi standards is limiting fibre’s potential in the GCC

More than one-third of the users in the region reported using Wi-Fi 4, Ookla says.
Wi-Fi 6 can bring significant speed gains and users can benefit the most from a Customer Premise Equipment upgrade.
The choice of Wi-Fi standards and spectrum bands has a direct impact on connectivity quality, throughput, and network coverage.

Despite improvements in fibre coverage and adoption by investing in fixed infrastructure in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the use of legacy and underperforming Wi-Fi standards in home networks is limiting fibre’s potential in the region.

In the second quarter of this year, more than one-third of the users in the region reported using Wi-Fi 4, which means that a sizable proportion of users are not utilising broadband services to their full potential.

Karim Yaici, Lead Industry Analyst at Ookla, said that modern Wi-Fi standards can bring significant speed gains.

On average, customers using Wi-Fi 5 had a median download speed of more than five times higher than those on Wi-Fi 4. Likewise, the speed over Wi-Fi 6 was 1.2 times faster on average than with Wi-Fi 5.

“Even if consumers in the Gulf region own modern smartphones and Wi-Fi routers, they may still unknowingly use Wi-Fi 4 due to device misconfiguration and coverage constraints. So, internet service providers need to ensure that their customers’ routers and smartphones are configured correctly and offer solutions to improve indoor connectivity to use the more efficient 5 GHz spectrum band,” Yaici said.

Moreover, he said that fixed broadband subscribers in the Gulf (most of whom use fibre services) with routers that only support Wi-Fi 4 would benefit the most from a CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) upgrade.

According to Ookla, most Gulf countries improved their global fixed broadband speed ranking since 2020.

According to the FTTH Council industry body, the UAE topped the global rankings for fibre household coverage, reaching 98.1% in September 2022, a position it has maintained since 2016. Qatar closely followed in the second position with 97.8% coverage.

These two GCC countries ranked ahead of Singapore (96.5%), Hong Kong (91.6%), and China (89.4%). In Bahrain, meanwhile, more than 88% of households were connected to the fibre infrastructure, whereas fibre coverage exceeded 60% in Saudi Arabia and reached 52% in Oman.

As a result, most Gulf countries boosted their ranking in the Ookla Speedtest Global Index.

The UAE was ranked second in the Speedtest Global Index for median download speeds over fixed broadband in June 2023. Other GCC countries improved their rankings as well but trailed the UAE.

In the UAE, Etisalat by e& and du increased minimum download speeds to 500 Mbps and offered discounts on higher-tier fibre plans in 2022.

Yaici said that the choice of Wi-Fi standards and spectrum bands has a direct impact on connectivity quality, throughput, and network coverage.

Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) significantly increases the maximum theoretical throughput speed of the access point to 3.5 Gbps, compared to 600 Mbps supported by the old Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) standard.

Wi-Fi 6/6E (802.11ax) supports even faster maximum data rates (up to 9.6 Gbps) and lower latency than earlier generations. It also combines 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz spectrum bands and wider channels for better throughput and less interference.

However, Yaici said that Bahrain has the highest incidence of samples that use Wi-Fi 4 and the lowest proportion of Wi-Fi 6.

“Wi-Fi 4 was more prevalent in the UAE than Wi-Fi 6 (30.8% compared to 17.2% in Q2 2023). This suggests that the ISPs have an opportunity to improve the network experience for nearly a third of their customer base and extend their lead in the speed leaderboard if they can address that CPE speed bottleneck,” he said.

The minimum broadband speed currently offered by ISPs in Saudi Arabia is 100 Mbps, while the median download speed on fixed broadband measured by Speedtest Intelligence data was 93.85 Mbps in the second quarter of 2023.

“Consumer-initiated speed tests confirm that users’ experience of network speed is significantly affected by how their devices connect to Wi-Fi access points,” he said.

Given the clear performance advantages of Wi-Fi 5, he said that ISPs should encourage customers to migrate from Wi-Fi 4 to Wi-Fi 5 because it will significantly impact the end-user network experience.

Top router brands

According to Ookla, Huawei and TP-Link are the top router brands reported by Gulf users utilising Wi-Fi 4. The data show that Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have the highest proportion of samples connected to a Huawei CPE while TP-Link routers are most common in Qatar and the UAE.

The UAE has the highest proportion of routers from D-Link, Cisco, and less popular brands used with Wi-Fi 4 (nearly 64% of samples reported using ‘other’ manufacturers).

This high level of market fragmentation is likely due to users replacing routers provided by their ISP or installing refurbished routers to extend coverage indoors. Such fragmentation complicates the task of ISPs to ensure that their customers use more recent routers or that they configure them correctly to use more modern Wi-Fi standards.

Yaici said that, according to their data, most commercial CPEs in the region introduced since 2020 likely support Wi-Fi 5 (if not Wi-Fi 6).

“Further, tests also showed that most Android-based smartphones that used Wi-Fi 4 were equipped with Wi-Fi 5-capable chipsets. Therefore, many users in the region are capable of using Wi-Fi 5 but are still on Wi-Fi 4. We believe that misconfigured routers could be the primary cause of such a high prevalence of legacy Wi-Fi 4 technology among Gulf countries,” he said.

As many ISPs in the region already offer a minimum fibre speed of 250 Mbps, they should, he said as a priority, migrate existing customers with legacy Wi-Fi routers to more modern models and educate customers with newer routers on how to correctly configure them.

“ISPs’ efforts to introduce newer CPEs will help improve the end-user experience, boost global speed rankings in the region, and ensure that their routers are more future-proof as gigabit speeds become more widespread,” Yaici said.

How ISPs can address the issues:

Legacy equipment: Some fixed broadband customers are locked into long service contracts and are not eligible for router upgrades. ISPs may not offer newer routers to existing customers whose contracts are automatically renewed.

Solutions: Encourage existing broadband customers to upgrade to faster fibre packages to benefit from modern Wi-Fi routers. Offer customers the option to replace their old Wi-Fi routers for free or for a small fee during their contract.

Configuration issues: Routers may, by default, use older Wi-Fi standards or deactivate the 5 GHz band.

Some routers are pre-configured to use the same network name for both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, and some devices may not handle this well, Some old mobile devices latch to 2.4 GHz (which is more likely used by Wi-Fi 4) on first-run but do not switch back to 5 GHz due to firmware limitations or a hardware/software setting in the router/end-user devices.

Solutions: Work with OEMs to push firmware and software updates to prioritize newer Wi-Fi standards and the use of 5 GHz over 2.4 GHz. Educate customers about the importance of updating the router’s firmware and smartphone software. Preconfigure the routers to have separate names for the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz bands. Offer routers that can automatically select the optimal Wi-Fi channel and band to improve performance.

Coverage and performance issues: Distance from CPE, physical obstruction, and interference in the crowded 2.4 GHz band.

Solutions: Offer Wi-Fi extenders to improve indoor coverage. Share best practices with customers on the configuration and placement of the router.

Discover fresh brands

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Consumers can discover fresh brands, unlock limitless cashback, and enjoy savings with unparalleled ease of use.

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Partners can focus on growing their business and delivering first class customer service. With mimojo, there are no more awkward conversations with customers or unclear redemption terms.

The mimojo app provides businesses and brands with the flexibility to modify offerings based on business needs.

With up to 35 per cent cashback on favorite brands, currently available in the UAE for all VISA credit and debit card holders, mimojo is free for the first two months, followed by a monthly subscription of AED 10 a month.

The app is available on App Store and Play store.

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Download & sign up for mimojo.
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On the 15th of every month, users receive their approved cashback disbursed directly to their cards, aka mimojo PAY DAY.

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High demand

Power of perfect photos

Photos: A form of social currency

Bringing dead celebrities back to life

Economic criminals

Security budget priorities

Lack of internal expertise

$1tr revenue lost

Supply chain attacks

Geopolitical tensions

To use advanced technology

Related Posts:

Expansion on the radar

Top router brands

How ISPs can address the issues:

Related posts:

Discover fresh brands

How it works

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