Currently, Chatroulette is little more than an interactive penis joke, and a pretty vulgar one at that. Thanks to cutting-edge genital detection software (no joke), the video chatting service may soon go PG.
According to TechCrunch, Chatroulette founder Andrey Ternovskiy is considering implementing an algorithm that scans users’ video input for signatures of nudity. Unveil a garden root vegetable to your webcam and you might soon get kicked off the fast-growing website that instantly connects you to a random stranger.
The change, should it happen, will be a long time coming for a service that counts 13 percent of its users as “perverts,” according to a study conducted by analytics firm RJMetrics. Since it exploded onto the scene early this year, Chatroulette has attracted considerable interest from Silicon Valley investors, nearly all of whom assert the service must clean up its act if it is to become a serious business with blue-chip advertising revenue.
So far, Ternovskiy has rejected all techy overtures to eject the pervs. He might be only 17 years old, but the Muscovite prodigy, who now lives in Palo Alto, Calif. has been careful not to tarnish the Chatroulette brand by bowing to the demands of big-eyed potential investors. One unnamed “investor that wants in on Chatroulette” tells TechCrunch what many in Silicon Valley believe: the service could sustain its explosive growth if it cuts the smut. “The potential for online dating, which is largely what pushed early Facebook growth, is unlimited.”
It might be just a matter of time before Chatroulette is no longer about meeting meat, but meeting a mate.
Photo via Popular Science.
