TikTok "Aged" Filter

About

TikTok Aged Filter is a filter on the video-sharing app TikTok that uses AI technology to show what one might look like when they are much older, adding wrinkles, sagging, pigmentation and grey hair. The filter trended in July 2023 and was used by younger TikTokers to see what they might look like decades later. Discussions about the filter often centered around how it made some users look older than others and encouraged some users to take better care of their skin to avoid aging badly. The filter acts as an inverse of the viral Teenage Look filter that trended in February 2023 and showed older TikTokers what they looked like when they were younger.

Origin

On July 8th, 2023, various TikTokers began sharing videos of themselves using the TikTok Aged Filter, which showed a split screen of the user's current face and an altered, older-looking version of their face, or just their face with an aging filter on it. TikToker^[1] @home.with.stefania posted a video reacting to her older, "aged" face, noting that it looked very realistic. The video gathered over 26 million plays and 1 million likes in six days (seen below).

Spread

On July 11th, 2023, Kylie Jenner^[2] posted a video using the filter, saying that she doesn't like what she's seeing. the post gathered over 100 million pays and 10 million likes in three days (seen below, left). Also on July 11th, TikToker^[3] @wilsonolivia69 posted a video captioned, "I look like I sh!t myself at Bingo," gathering over 2.7 million plays and 280,000 likes in three days (seen below, right).

Testing The Filter's Accuracy With Celebrities

Various TikTokers began testing the accuracy of the filter using younger images of celebrities and seeing if it matched their present appearance. TikToker^[4] @saniezehraa posted one such clip using the filter on the cast of Friends on July 12th, 2023, gathering over 25 million plays and 2.3 million likes in two days (seen below, left). TikToker^[5] @vasilisaluv posted one such video on July 13th, gathering over 18 million plays and 1.1 million likes in a day (seen below, right).

While videos showing the filter's accuracy in aging celebrities went viral, commentators noted that such AI filters are often trained on publically available celebrity faces, which might make it more accurate for these faces.

Additional Spread

Various TikTokers reacted to the filter by vowing to practice better skincare, while others tried different angles to get better results. Some TikTokers noted that the filter aged some people "worse" than it did others, sparking worry due to consensus on the filter's "accuracy" for celebrity faces.

On July 13th, 2023, TikToker^[6] @forestgravess posted a clip trying the filter from different angles hoping for better results, gathering over 12 million plays and 1.5 million likes in a day (seen below, right). TikToker^[7] @gagewhitehurst posted a video on July 12th, stitching someone claiming that the filter aged them like milk and sharing his own wizened aged face, gathering over 11 million plays and 1.4 million likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References