Why you want to think twice before using viral AI portrait app Lensa
Lensa AI, a photo editing app launched in 2018, became a viral sensation last month after launching its "magic avatars" feature. The app's popularity has flooded social media timelines with AI-generated portraits, but critics are raising concerns over privacy and ethics, NBC News reports.
The app's newest feature allows users to upload ten or more images to be reimagined into various art styles. Lensa AI technology utilizes neural network Stable Diffusion to create 50 unique portraits, which users can download for $7.99. The virality of the portraits helped the app reach the top of the iOS App Store's "Photo & Video" category earlier this month.
The app's rapid growth has reignited debate over the ethics of mass-producing images using technology trained on artists' original work. Several artists have accused the company of using their work without permission. Others say that cheap mass production of imitated images undermines the work of artists who spend years refining their art style.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Prisma, the company behind Lensa AI, addressed concerns in a recent Twitter thread. The company wrote that AI-generated images "can't be described as exact replicas of any particular artwork," but did not refute claims that it used art without artists' permission.
Others have expressed concerns over the company's use of the photos, as the app requires permission to use uploaded images for "operating or improving Lensa" without compensation. Prisma Labs told TechCrunch that the company deletes the images users upload from the cloud services after using them to train its AI. Even so, "the fact that Lensa uses user content to further train its AI model," perhaps with little awareness from users, writes NBC, "should alarm the public."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.
-
'Elevating Earth Day into a national holiday is not radical — it's practical'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
UAW scores historic win in South at VW plant
Speed Read Volkswagen workers in Tennessee have voted to join the United Auto Workers union
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 22, 2024
Cartoons Monday's cartoons - dystopian laughs, WNBA salaries, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Amazon ending 'Just Walk Out' grocery checkout
Speed Read In its place, the company will let customers scan while they shop with Amazon Dash Cart
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Justice Department bites Apple with iPhone suit
Speed Read The lawsuit alleges that the tech company monopolized the smartphone industry
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
House votes to force TikTok to sell or face US ban
speed read The House passed a bill to ban TikTok on national security grounds unless it sells to a non-Chinese company
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Apple kills its secret electric car project
Speed Read Many of the people from Project Titan are being reassigned to work on generative AI
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Cellphone use may be lowering sperm count
Speed Read Electromagnetic radiation could be affecting male fertility
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Nasa reveals first findings from asteroid that could explain origins of life
Speed Read Sample from Bennu has been found to contain an abundance of water and carbon
By Jamie Timson, The Week UK Published
-
NYPD to monitor Labor Day parties using surveillance drones
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Elon Musk announces change to Twitter logo
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published