‘Looksmaxxing’ on ChatGPT Rated Me a ‘Mid-Tier Becky.’ Be Careful.

You may find ChatGPT useful for many things. A friend showed me the other day how he used it to turn a photo of his daughter’s favorite stuffed animal into a printed-out coloring book, which seemed pretty nifty.

Here’s something I have now also tried on ChatGPT and do not recommend: looksmaxxing.

For the uninitiated: “Looksmaxxing” is a term for the quest to improve one’s looks through skincare, hair styling, new clothes, and physical fitness. That sounds benign. The origins of the phenomenon aren’t so innocent: It bubbled up from internet incel culture, where some young men are fixated on the idea that their appearance determines their success with women and in life. There’s a whole in-group lexicon of things like like “mewing” (tongue exercises to increase jawline definition), “hunter eyes,” “canthal tilt,” and “mogging,” or slang for outdoing your competition.

LooksmaxxingGPT is a custom bot that’s in the Top 10 within the “Lifestyle” category of ChatGPT’s custom GPTs. (The custom bot says it’s had more than 700,000 conversations.)

To be clear, ChatGPT’s custom GPT section works like Apple’s App Store — these GPTs are built by independent developers. (It’s more freewheeling than Apple’s App Store because these also are unvetted: They rise to the top simply if they’re popular.) The developer of the LookmaxxingGPT is listed as “Ant,” but there was no link to contact this person or group, so I couldn’t reach anyone for comment.

Molly White of Citation Needed noticed the chatbot recently. She wrote:

[T]he chatbot has informed the man who uploaded his photo that he is “subhuman.” Asked for advice on what to do if the man doesn’t desire surgeries, the bot replies: “Let me be honest: without surgery, you won’t mog genetically superior guys head-on.” The bot repeats throughout the conversation that the man is doomed to being “ignored” and “rejected” by women without surgical intervention, writing things like “A sharp jaw beats a $3000 outfit 100/100 times.”

Curious, I tried it out myself.

I uploaded a photo. (In what I know will later sound like a tremendous amount of cope, I should say that this selfie was particularly unflattering, with dirty hair, no makeup, and a purposely weird smile.) I asked what celebrity I looked like. The top match it gave me was an Australian actor I hadn’t heard of, but also Lisa Edelstein from House M.D., which, you know what? I can see it.

Still, “What celebrity do you look like?” bots have been popular on the internet for years — this didn’t feel like AGI magic to me. I mean, in 2016, Microsoft released an app that told you what breed of dog you resembled.

But this app can also do something that those what-celeb-do-I-look-like apps could never do. It gave me a “PSL” rating. That’s a “Physical Sexual Attractiveness” score, on a scale of 1-10. It also names your level of supposed attractiveness, from “subhuman” (yikes) to “ethereal tier.”

LooksmaxxGPT gave me a score of “Mid-Tier Becky,” or about a 5 on the 1-10 scale. (Unlike traditional ChatGPT, which has had problems with being too much of a suckup, these custom versions apparently … don’t!)

I also uploaded another photo, this one where I had bright lipstick on and a normal smile. Upgraded to “High-Tier Becky.” Hey, I’ll take it.

The bot said it could offer makeup tips to help me improve my rating, so I asked for them. It gave an impressive chart that showed drugstore and Sephora items for each category of things like foundations, concealers, eyeliners, etc. Now, this is a realm I know a bit about — I love buying makeup and can watch endless makeup TikToks. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the personalization, however. These were all products that were mostly top-reviewed in each category. There were no suggestions of specific colors or shades that matched my particular face.

Next, I asked it for “hardmaxxing” suggestions — plastic surgery or dental work. I was not shocked that it suggested that I, a woman in her 40s, might want to try Botox.

How does a celebrity hold up?

To test the bot a little further, I gave it a picture of Walton Goggins from “The White Lotus.”

Here’s a guy who illustrates the limitations of the LooksmaxxingGPT bot: He’s a little imperfect looking, has a receding hairline, but is considered wildly attractive by pretty much every woman I know.

LookmaxxingGPT gave Goggins a 3.5/10. “This puts him in the normie-subnormie crossover zone,” it said.

To complain that LooksmaxxingGPT’s suggestions aren’t particularly precise or even “good” is beside the point, though.

The problem with this whole thing is that it’s rooted in a sometimes racist, misogynist agenda — the whole incel culture that’s been seeping into the mainstream from the depths of the interet. And not in a good way.

This GPT wasn’t meant for me, a grown human who has healthy self-esteem. I’m not saying some people couldn’t have some lighthearted fun with this bot, but the whole looksmaxxing trend is aimed at young men who are bewildered by dating and society — and are hoping there’s some cheat code that will bring them success with women if they can only get the right jawline.

The idea of using AI for this is obviously appealing — if it can write a history term paper, give you a low-carb meal plan, or act as your therapist, why can’t it also tell you how to look better? The problem is: It can’t.