How to Play the Are You You? Face Recognition Game

Updated

To play Are You You? (areyouyou.eu), allow camera access, look at the camera for the five-second photo countdown, then make faces until the recognition meter drops below 50%. That threshold is the win condition. The site says the face recognition model runs locally in your browser, no photos are uploaded, and no cookies or tracking are used; only the final score is stored as a viewer count.

Before You Start

  • Camera access is required. The page states that access to your camera is necessary to play. If you block it, the game cannot take the photo it needs.
  • The model loads first. You will see a "Loading face recognition model..." message before play begins.
  • Nothing is uploaded. According to the site, the algorithm runs entirely in your own browser and no pictures of your face are sent anywhere.

Step by Step

  1. Open areyouyou.eu and choose Play.
  2. Grant camera permission when the browser asks. If you decline, you will see an "Unable to access camera" message.
  3. Wait for the model to load, then look at the camera. Your photo is taken after a 5-second countdown.
  4. Make funny faces to push the match meter down. The meter shows a percentage match ("% match") and a "Not you??" reading as it falls.
  5. Keep going until the meter drops below 50%. That is when you win and see "YOU DID IT!"

Tactics the Site Suggests

The game's own instructions list these approaches:

  • Move your head from side to side, up and down
  • Stick out your tongue
  • Laugh
  • Remove glasses
  • Use your hands to deform your face

The underlying idea is simple: face recognition compares a "face print" (the site compares it to a fingerprint for faces) against your earlier photo. Anything that changes the geometry or visibility of your features gives the algorithm less to match.

What You See and How Scoring Works

  • Face prints: next to the faces, the game displays face prints so you can see what the algorithm is comparing.
  • Levels: the score screen shows Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 results, each rated from "Bad" to "Fail," plus a "Beat the system bonus."
  • Final score: at the end you get a total and a label such as "A facial gymnast," along with an average "% you" figure and how often the algorithm concluded it was likely the same person.
  • Extras: you can download a picture of your result, try again, or use the sharing buttons. The site says these are privacy-friendly and contain no third-party tracking.

Common Snags

  • Camera blocked: re-enable camera permission for the site in your browser settings, then reload.
  • Meter stuck above 50%: combine tactics rather than repeating one. Moving your head changes pose, while hands or tongue change visible features; using both is more likely to push the match down.
  • Glasses: if you wear them, the site explicitly suggests removing them as one option.

What the Project Is For

Are You You? is an educational project by artist and privacy designer Tijmen Schep, made as part of the Sherpa project, an EU-funded research consortium exploring how AI systems could better protect human rights. The stated goal is to show, light-heartedly, how difficult it can be to escape face recognition technology.