After going all in on AI, why didn’t Meitu create Miaoya?

The Miaoya AI camera has become popular, and it has been available on all major platforms. But why has Meitu, which is also well versed in AI technology, not launched its own “Miaoya”? This article answers this question by analyzing the layout of Meitu’s AI sections and comparing its application functions. It is recommended for people who are interested in AIGC marketing.

The popularity of MiaoYa AI Camera seemed to happen overnight.

For just 9.9 yuan and a face, you can get a set of high-definition photos without posing or going out. You can also generate photos in various styles such as "Tang Princess", "Elite in Suit", "Ancient Style Knight" according to your preferences. This price-performance ratio is so good that no one can help but say "It's great". Not to mention, these photos are so exquisite that they are almost seamless, and even the neck lines on the neck can be reproduced 1:1, which makes many users exclaim that "even their mothers can't find fault with it."

Just one week after its launch, Miaoya Camera quickly became a hit. A large number of users flocked to it, which also made the waiting time for photo generation reach 9 hours at one point, with tens of thousands of people queuing in front. According to rough calculations, this small program can earn 100,000 yuan in one day. Based on this popularity, it is not difficult to earn 1 million yuan in a week. Although the waiting time is getting longer and longer, it still can't stop the enthusiasm of users. After all, for 9.9 yuan, you can get a set of refined "hippocampus" photos, and you can immediately post them on WeChat Moments. Who wouldn't be confused?

As netizens are competing for it, the first hit product in the AI ​​era has emerged. It came unexpectedly, but it was reasonable. Of course, this is not the first AI image product in the AI ​​era. A few days ago, Meitu Xiuxiu and Wink APP announced the launch of the "AI Anime-Modeling Face" function, which allows users to upload photos and break through the dimensional wall with one click to create their own exclusive anime modeling face.

In addition, at the "Meitu Image Festival" held by Meitu a month ago, CEO Wu Xinhong personally announced that Meitu will release 7 AI-related tool products including the visual big model MiracleVision and Meitu Design Studio, involving AI drawing, AI posters, AI product pictures, AI drawing and other AI image-related functions.

Soon after, Meitu also announced the "good news" brought by AIGC in the capital market. In the announcement released by Meitu on July 18, it stated that the company's net profit increased significantly due to the "rapid growth in revenue from the VIP subscription business of image and video-related applications driven by the company's artificial intelligence generated content (AIGC)."

However, despite the continuous good news and AI layout, Meitu has never been able to usher in a "Miaoya Camera" of its own.

1. What is the effectiveness of Meitu AI?

After going all in on AI, AI functions have taken a dominant position in Meitu XiuXiu, and AI topic discussions have become an important part of the Meitu community. Obviously, Meitu seems to be determined to go all in on AI.

But the concept must be put into practice. The effect still needs to be proven. AI Blue Media first used the "AI drawing" function as an experimental object. In the "Wenshengtu" dialog box of Meitu Xiuxiu, several keywords were entered, such as "a painting, lotus, light pink and light green tones, Zeng Chuangxing, close distance", and the effect given was as follows:

It took 3 seconds to generate four images with different styles and contents. Overall, the details are relatively delicate, and the effect of rendering the portrait is also normal.

At the same time, AI Blue Media also entered the same keywords into Wenxin Yiyan and Bing AI, and the results were as follows:

It also took 3 seconds to generate, and Wen Xinyiyan only provided one picture, while Bing AI was almost identical in the level of detail in image depiction and the diversity of styles.

In terms of this item alone, Meitu's advantage is relatively obvious.

Let’s look at another comparison. In the “AI Elimination” function, AI Blue Media chose to eliminate the passers-by at the far end. After 5 seconds, the effect was as follows:

The effect given by the Xingtu APP, which also has the "passerby elimination" function, is as follows:

The overall effect is not much different, but upon closer inspection, you can find that although the AI ​​elimination function of Meitu can select the elimination area, the retention effect of the original image after elimination is average. For example, in this picture, the road map at the far end is erased, and the overall length of the street is shortened by AI; and although the pedestrian elimination function of Xingtu cannot select the elimination area, the judgment of the definition of "pedestrian" is generally no problem, and the retention effect of the distant picture is better.

In this wave, the two removal effects are equally good. But in terms of cost performance, Meitu needs to pay to become a VIP to remove the watermark, while Xingtu can be generated directly for free.

In addition, there are other types of AI mapping functions in the Meitu Xiuxiu app, such as uploading a selfie of a person to transform it into a two-dimensional cartoon style with one click, "picture creation", "avatar creation", "graffiti creation" to perfect simple doodles into pictures, "line drawing coloring", etc.

If you want to fully experience these functions, you must recharge to become a VIP member. The membership price ranges from 12 yuan/month to 98 yuan/year.

Meanwhile, in Meitu's community "Gallery", AI beauties, AI photography, AI 2D, and other content almost fill the page. Although most users have said that "the AI ​​effect is really beautiful" and "can we exchange keywords?", some users also said that " although some of Meitu's AI functions are powerful enough, some of them are just camera filters that are now covered with AI skin. In the final analysis, they are just copying the concept ."

2. Beautiful pictures that make you anxious

It is not difficult to find from personal experience and user comments that Meitu has certain advantages in AI mapping, but price is a hurdle, and the concept of being too close to AI has also given some users a bad experience.

But it is undeniable that AI has become and must become Meitu’s core strategy.

In order to alleviate users' natural sensitivity and resistance to prices, Meitu has also begun to turn to the B-side. It integrates AI product pictures, AI posters and other functions in the "Design Studio" page, and labels it as a "one-stop toolkit for merchants."

The capital market seems to be paying for this. On July 18, when Meitu released 7 AI tools, Meitu's stock price soared 21.28% on the same day. Snowball shows that in the past year, Meitu's stock price has been on an upward trend, from 0.8 yuan per share to 3.5 yuan per share, with a total market value of 12.762 billion yuan. For this reason, an investor commented: "I bought from 2.60 to 0.65, and then from 0.65 to 3.55. I kept buying. There is no other reason, I believe in myself and Meitu", "Meitu AI is really serious about Chinese aesthetics".

In fact, for a long time, whether it was engaging in lending business or investing in cryptocurrency, Meitu seemed to be going further and further in the direction of "not doing its job properly".

However, the arrival of the AI ​​wave is like a timely rescue and a timely help, giving Meitu the possibility of regaining the trust of the capital market. In particular, Wu Xinhong specifically mentioned that Meitu should be positioned as a tool again - a revolutionary AI productivity tool, which is obviously more in line with the capital market's expectations for the product.

Despite this, the AIGC trend has always been a sword hanging over Meitu's head. Just like at the end of last year, AIGC exploded like a tide, allowing many AIGC startups to show their edge. For example, Midjourney, a product that generates pictures from text, is also the company that created the famous "Space Opera" that is worthy of being recorded in the history of AIGC. At the same time, this product can also generate exquisite and realistic portraits by giving it detailed camera parameters.

The effect is enough to replace cameras and photographers, not to mention photo editing software. It was at this time that some people began to worry about the prospects of Meitu. Such concerns are not groundless. To this day, Midjourney is still constantly upgrading its version. The new version V5 last month showed that the speed of generating images will be doubled, and the price will be reduced by half.

In order to cope with such an aggressive opponent, Meitu has been expanding its footprint in the field of AI almost weekly in the past six months, involving fields such as images and videos, covering people from B-end to C-end. This means that Meitu is anxious.

Even so, against the backdrop of ever-increasing productivity, Meitu is still not the first hit product in the AI ​​imaging era. This is a big blow to Meitu and the investors who have confidence in it.

Obviously, what Meitu needs to consider now is how to transform anxiety into hard power, rather than indulging deeper and deeper in the bubble of AI.

Author: Yan Ye

Source: WeChat official account: "AI Blue Media"