Skeptics Address Privacy and Security Concerns With Viral Artificial Intelligence Self-Portrait Generator

Social media timelines are flooded with a new wave of self-portraits that users are generating with artificial intelligence (AI).

Prisma Labs’ Lensa AI, an all-in-one editing app, is responsible for bringing these magic avatars to life, after users fulfill the requirement of uploading 10 to 20 photos of themselves to power up the artwork.

“Six years ago, @prisma made a blast turning photos into art with the power of #neuralnetworks,” a post shared on Prisma Labs’ official Instagram page read.

“Today @lensa.ai, the project by Prisma Labs team, is taking it one step further with mind-blowing AI avatars! This is not a filter or an effect. These AI avatars are generated from scratch but with your face in mind. Upload 10-20 pictures, give it a few minutes, and get hundreds of artworks created by #artificialintelligence for you,” the caption continued.

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Controversial perspectives have come about regarding the AI images that most users believe are harmless. Some allege that the application has taken stolen images from creators.

Hey everyone!

I know a lot of people have been posting their Lensa/other AI portraits lately. I would like to encourage you not to do so or, better yet, not to use the service. These AI seem like harmless fun but they are predatory and intend to replace artists. (1/9)

— Jenny Yokobori (@JennyYokobori) December 3, 2022

“Friends. This Lensa app everyone’s using uses the Stable Diffusion model. This uses the Laion database which is the most insidious one, containing millions of stolen artworks, medical photos and stolen/illegal intimate content. Please be mindful about these things,” said Shaun Sunday of Brainbeast Studios.

According to Good Morning America, cybersecurity expert Andrew Couts said that it is almost impossible to know what happens to users’ photos after being uploaded into the app. He shared that his main concern is that data could potentially be lifted from the phones of those who use the app.

“It’s impossible to know, without a full audit of the company’s back-end systems, to know how safe or unsafe your pictures may be,” Couts said.

“The company does claim to ‘delete’ face data after 24 hours and they seem to have good policies in place for their privacy and security practices.”

ABC News reported that the developer of Lensa AI claimed the uploaded images are used “solely for the purpose of creating their very own avatars.”

Skeptics of the app encourage readers to carefully read and understand the app’s Terms & Conditions.