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I Uploaded a Photo of My Face to Get an AI-Generated Biological Age Estimate. It Shocked Me

Technologies

I Uploaded a Photo of My Face to Get an AI-Generated Biological Age Estimate. It Shocked Me

Can AI help with a personalized health screening? I uploaded a selfie to find out.

Somewhere on TikTok, I discovered that you can upload a selfie to ChatGPT and ask what nonsurgical treatments you could consider for antiaging. It gives you a full breakdown, like an AI cosmetic surgeon.

Pretty cool, especially given the cost of a cosmetic doctor.

But I’d tested out ChatGPT already for beauty advice and FaceApp to show me how I’ll age. I was looking for advice from AI that went deeper with insights based on my skin and what’s going on underneath its surface. It is the body’s largest organ, after all.

That’s when I discovered Noom’s new AI Face Scan feature, which promises longevity stats from a simple selfie in seconds. I had to try it, even though I was scared about what it would reveal. Years of partying hard and traveling the world likely accelerated my aging process.

Worth it, though.

Noom, a health and longevity platform, launched Face Scan and Future Me in October 2025, available for free to use via the app. Face Scan is powered by NuraLogix, while Future Me uses Haut.ai.

Let’s see my biological age according to AI.

Huberman-style health insights, using AI

To access the AI features, I downloaded the Noom app and created a login. Noom asked a few questions like my age, height, weight and health goals. Once I was set up, I navigated to the Health tab, then selected Health Insights.

I was presented with three options: Face Scan, Future Me and Body Composition Scan.

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I was more interested in the health screening report to find out what AI predicted for my biological age, metabolic and heart health indicators and vital signs, as well as what Noom would recommend to improve it. Biological age tests are usually conducted through blood tests, and even then, they aren’t 100% accurate or indicative of overall health.

Selfie time, but do I dare do it without makeup? It’ll probably be more accurate.

Noom opened with its privacy policy, which you have to give consent for, then asked a few more questions, such as my birthday and whether I smoke, take any medications or have diabetes. This information is used for the biological age calculator. I scanned the privacy policy and couldn’t see any red flags.

Then it gave me some tips on how to take the best selfie. Basically, an intense close-up.

While it was loading, it gave more context about how it worked. Noom uses remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) to detect tiny changes in color and light absorption beneath the skin with the aim of determining blood volume and flow, heart rate, breathing and stress levels.

Photoplethysmography is the technology used in wearables, but studies are split on the validity of rPPG.

One study published in 2023 determined it was uncertain as to the extent that rPPG will be able to estimate blood pressure in real-world settings, due to physiologic, environmental and technical limitations. Another study (2021) stated, «image processing based approaches for rPPG have been shown to perform better than contact-based sensors for pulse rate determination.»

Noom has prefaced this in its fine print in the app, stating «Health insights in this report are for informational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice.»

What I saw next was what I feared: a biological age of 44 when I’m 37.

Granted, I took this photo with no makeup while recovering from an IVF procedure a few days ago. Growing up in the Australian sun likely didn’t help, either. According to Noom, it uses the «stress patterns from tiny color changes in the skin.»

Here’s what the report said:

Based on this, the AI app said I should focus on improving my cardiac workload and heart rate variability.

Next up, my metabolic health, which it said was optimal:

Looks like I need to work on the high triglycerides.

Next, I was hoping for a full report with lifestyle suggestions, but it directed me straight to a page to buy GLP-1 — drugs like Ozempic — to «lower my biological age.» Ouch.

This was a bit disappointing because it felt like the endgame was to get me to buy Noom’s products, rather than provide substantive advice.

So instead, I took all this information across to good ol’ ChatGPT for an action plan that I can review and reach out to my doctor about.

Here was my prompt: «I used Noom’s Face Scan feature to learn my biological age and health markers. Can you review the results and provide an action plan on how I can improve my health? I need to improve my cardiac workload and heart rate variability. It said I’m at risk of high triglycerides. Explain what all of this means and what I can do about it to reduce my biological age.»

Reviewing my results

I liked how I could feed all of the information from Noom into ChatGPT for further context. For example, ChatGPT told me the results don’t necessarily mean I’m «unhealthy,» but rather, I have physiological stress markers on the face, possibly due to inflammation and stress. It even said, «recent medical treatments can temporarily worsen bloat/inflammation.»

Thanks, ChatGPT.

Here’s where it got tactical with an action plan to reduce my biological age, improve heart function and lower triglycerides:

It also gave me a 30-day health optimization plan, which included 20-40 minutes of cardio, five minutes of HRV breathing, taking magnesium at night, a 10-minute walk after heavier meals, consuming 30-40g of protein with every meal, drinking 2 liters of water each day, getting morning sunlight and going to bed between 10:30 and 11 p.m. All of that was done daily — it also suggested several times a week of yoga or Pilates, strength training, using a sauna and taking long outdoor walks, as well as recommending a diet that was high in omega-3, low in carbs, low in alcohol, high in fiber and Mediterranean-style.

According to ChatGPT, following these basic tenets would improve my biological age within four to six weeks.

It’s important to note that this is not the same as an accurate medical diagnosis or treatment plan from a qualified clinician — and neither is Noom’s report either — so you should always consult your doctor when you have health concerns or are considering significant changes to your lifestyle (diet, taking supplements, etc.) — especially so that your medical information remains private.

The verdict

While I didn’t love Noom alone, I did find it useful to use those insights to prompt ChatGPT. I’ve ended the year with a big goal for 2026: to get serious about strength training. This reiterates health data I’ve explored with AI before.

Now I have a doable action plan to inform my new year’s goal setting.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Technologies

Samsung S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display Makes Shoulder Surfing a Thing of the Past

You can scroll on the subway in peace.

Picture this: You’re wedged into the middle seat while cruising at 38,000 feet, half watching the clouds and half scrolling through messages you probably should have answered already. The cabin lights are dimmed. The stranger rubbing shoulders next to you adjusts in their seat. Out of the corner of your eye, you notice their gaze flicker toward your screen.

That is a moment when the new Samsung S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display, announced during the company’s Galaxy Unpacked 2026, can quietly step in.

Unlike old-fashioned screen protectors that darken your display permanently, the new feature is built directly into the Galaxy S26 Ultra (starting at $1,300) panel. It is not a film you stick on top; it’s a part of the hardware itself, working seamlessly with the software.

During the Unpacked event, Samsung brought out Miles Franklin from MilesAboveTech to demo the feature: to Miles, looking straight at the screen, everything remained crisp, bright and color-accurate. To anyone trying to peek from the side, like those of us watching the demo, the content fades into shadow. From this perspective, the screen might as well be off.

«It’s seriously one of the coolest features I’ve seen on a phone in years,» Franklin said while onstage at Unpacked.

How Privacy Display works

Under the hood, the technology relies on a combination of directional backlighting and an adaptive pixel layer that controls how light is emitted across angles. Traditional displays spread light broadly so multiple people can see the screen at once. The S26 Ultra does the opposite when privacy mode is active. It funnels light forward in a tighter beam, limiting lateral visibility without sacrificing clarity for the primary user.

Sensors play a role, too. Using the front-facing camera and ambient awareness algorithms, the device can recognize when additional faces appear within viewing range. If it senses someone hovering nearby or glancing from the side, it can automatically trigger enhanced privacy mode. You can also have the process automate when certain notifications pop up or when opening specific apps, like those for banking or social media.

Back on the plane, you can now continue typing. The stranger next to you adjusts again — perhaps curious, perhaps bored. It doesn’t matter. Your screen remains yours.

Technologies

This One Killer Feature Sets the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Apart From All Other Phones

Commentary: Samsung needed to give us a reason to be excited about its latest flagship. It delivered.

There are so many reasons not to buy a new phone in 2026. For starters, our existing phones last longer than ever if we take care of them. Plus, most new phones are way too similar, not only to each other, but to last year’s batch. Finally, most of us won’t have our heads easily turned by yet another AI sales pitch.

But on Wednesday, at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco, the company gave us a genuinely compelling reason to consider upgrading to its new top-end flagship, the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Its killer feature has nothing to do with AI (although Samsung is still beating that drum as loudly as every phone-maker out there).

In fact, it has nothing to do with software at all. Instead, it’s an innovation in hardware: Privacy Display, which offers pixel-level privacy that prevents anyone beside you from seeing what’s on your screen.

Privacy Display works in both portrait and landscape, with the pixels dispersing light in a way that will darken parts of the screen if you’re not looking at it straight on. You can choose whether to apply it to specific apps, to notifications or for when you’re inputting PINs or passwords. Access from Quick Settings makes it easy to turn on and off on the go, like when you suspect someone on the bus is reading over your shoulder, for example.

The reason the Privacy Display is such a compelling feature is that it’s simple to demonstrate, and it offers benefits that are easy to understand, said Ben Wood, CMO and chief analyst at CCS Insight. «Unlike a secondary-market privacy screen protector affixed to the phone’s display, it is not an ‘all or nothing’ solution,» he added.

On the surface, privacy doesn’t feel especially sexy as tech features go. But it is important to people. You only need to observe how central Apple has made privacy to its entire brand to see that people place significant value in technology they feel they can trust.

For Samsung, placing privacy front and center may be a winning strategy, giving its latest flagship a genuine edge over competitors that they can’t match simply by pushing out a software update. Privacy Display also elevates the Ultra even within Samsung’s own wide stable of phones, and it goes some way (although perhaps not all the way) toward justifying that $1,300 price tag.

«At face value, the Galaxy S26 Series devices differ little from [Samsung’s] predecessors launched just over a year ago,» Wood said. «Without this capability, the Galaxy S26 Ultra would have been an extremely tough sell.»

But Samsung may want to capitalize on this competitive advantage while it can. «I also expect this to become a benchmark feature over the next few years on all premium smartphones and other products, such as laptops,» Wood said.

That’s something to look forward to if you plan to upgrade in 2027 or beyond, but for now this is an Ultra exclusive, so you’ll need to be feeling flush if you plan to be a Privacy Display early adopter.