Trend archive · September to October 2023
The AI yearbook photo trend of autumn 2023
Updated · Remake the Trend
In autumn 2023 feeds filled with 90s-style American yearbook portraits of people who had never been in one. They came from AI Yearbook, a feature of EPIK, a photo app from South Korea's SNOW Corporation, which took the app to No. 1 on the App Store in early October 2023. This page is the history. The 90s School Photo trend here is our own take on it, as a video from one photo.
In brief
- When
- Feature added 17 September 2023; viral from late September, peaking in early October 2023.
- Made with
- EPIK, a photo-editing app from SNOW Corporation (South Korea).
- How
- Upload 8 to 12 selfies; get back about 60 yearbook-style portraits.
- Cost
- Free app; the yearbook packs were paid, with plans listed from $0.99 to $38.99.
What was the AI yearbook trend?
You gave EPIK 8 to 12 selfies and it returned about 60 portraits of you as a 90s American high-school student, in different poses and outfits. People posted the sets and compared which version of themselves looked most like them.
A dated timeline
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 17 Sep 2023 | EPIK releases the AI Yearbook update. |
| 2 Oct 2023 | EPIK climbs 47 places to No. 3 among free apps in the US App Store (MobileAction data). |
| 5–6 Oct 2023 | It tops the Photo & Video chart, then the overall App Store. |
| 10 Oct 2023 | SNOW says EPIK was No. 1 in 56 countries' App Stores (the company's own figure). |
Why did it catch on?
Our read: nostalgia with a twist, a format everyone recognises, made from your own face, with enough variety in one pack that the funniest result was always worth posting. It also arrived a year after Lensa's avatars, so people already knew how to use a selfie pack.
What we don't know
How many people paid, how many portraits were made, and what happened to the uploaded selfies afterwards: we found no reliable reporting on any of it, so we don't guess.
Is the AI yearbook trend still going?
Not as a craze: it peaked in October 2023. The 90s school photo look is still made, which is why it's one of our evergreen trends here (we don't measure its heat week to week).
What can I make here instead?
The 90s School Photo trend here starts from one photo, shows you a free preview still, and turns it into a 10-second video. The others below are other then-and-now looks.
Sources
- TechCrunch, "AI app EPIK hits No. 1 on the App Store for its viral yearbook photo feature" (6 October 2023)
- MobileAction, EPIK's AI Yearbook (release date, 8 to 12 selfies, 60 images, plan prices, chart climb)
- SNOW press release via AAP (10 October 2023: No. 1 in 56 countries, the company's claim)