Former TikTok Executives Launch Superpose, an AI Posing Coach for iPhone Cameras

Superpose is essentially a camera app. Users can take a selfie or a photo of a friend, and the app generates four potential poses using AI. TechCrunch reported that some of the poses are extravagant and that the generation sometimes seems uncanny. Users can save generated poses or use a match pose feature to try to place themselves in the frame based on the app’s suggestions.

Chu previously worked in various product roles at Meta, Nextdoor, Roblox, TikTok and Slack. Liu was a founding engineer at a 3D face-scanning startup and later worked on image and video models at TikTok, according to TechCrunch.

Chu said the idea for the app came from a personal problem: her husband was not able to take good photos of her. “My husband just takes awful photos of me. It was a true pain point in our marriage where I don’t understand how he gets me to look just so terrible all the time. And I thought to myself, there has to be a way to solve this problem with advancements in computer vision and generative AI. And I decided to set out on my own,” Chu told TechCrunch.

Superpose gives users five generations for free every day. Users can buy a pack of five additional generations for $2.99, or 20 generations for $9.99. The company says it is working on improving its generation styles, personalization and ways to better coach users directly from the viewfinder.

The launch comes as companies increasingly use AI’s image-generation capabilities to teach photography skills. Google released a feature called Camera Coach on Pixel phones last year to guide users on framing and composition. In July, Adobe released a new feature in its experimental camera app that uses AI to critique photos and suggest changes for capture.

Chu acknowledged that other companies are entering the AI-guided photography space, but she said Superpose wants to focus on becoming the best camera for taking portrait photos by following directions from AI. She said the startup does not want to get into creating AI backgrounds and images and wants to focus on real-life photographs. “We want to lean into the core of memory capture versus, say, putting you in a fantastical place that you’ve never been. I think there are so many apps that do that well already, but we really wanna focus on actually capturing the lived moment and experience,” Chu said.

Chu also acknowledged that some of the pose suggestions might seem uncanny, and she said the company is working on improving that. Superpose has raised $2.2 million in funding from Khosla Ventures, Chinese smartphone and selfie app maker Meitu, and OVTR Ventures.