Prisma app turns your photos into works of art

  Aleksey Moiseenkov. 

While many smartphone owners have been wandering in search of Pokemon, another app has generated buzz for turning photos into works of art.Since launching in June, Prisma has become a summer smartphone hit. While it hasn't captured the global attention of Pokemon Go, which jumped out as the fastest app to 10 million downloads, users have likely seen the colorful images from the app invading their social media outlets like Instagram.Available on both iOS and Android, Prisma has netted more than 32 million downloads, says CEO  

 "We didn't expect such growth," said Moiseenkov during an interview. "It's been really big." 

 Moiseenkov says he was inspired in part by a 2015 study from The University of Tübingen in Germany called A Neural Algorithm of Artistic Style, which uses artificial intelligence to recreate images using the styles of iconic artists.

In Prisma, players upload a photo from their smartphone, then choose between one of several different art styles inspired by works including The Great Wave. The image then goes up to the cloud, where the app's algorithm will "draw image from scratch," says Moiseenkov, finding circles and lines within a photo to transform it into art work in seconds.

Users can then save it or upload it directly to Facebook or Instagram, as well as share it to any other app. A recent update now lets users automatically use their image as a Facebook profile photo. Users can also view the image in split screen form, so they can see how the changes look side by side."It's lowered the barrier to share content like this," says Moiseenkov.Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.