Over the past week or so, if you have seen your social media being flooded with pictures of your friends being turned into vibrant artwork, you are not alone. The app behind these "magic avatars" is the artificial intelligence-powered photo-editing app called Lensa AI. Meanwhile, many have raised concerns about digital privacy, in the addition to the actual price you will pay for these portraits.&nbsp;

What is Lensa AI and how does it work?

The United States-based company, Prisma Labs, created the Lensa AI, which has been around for almost four years and uses artificial intelligence to generate “Magic Avatars” of one's images including it being re-imagined as, anime characters or celestial beings. The app available for users on iPhone and Android lets the user upload an image and then turns them into an avatar.&nbsp;

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The app uses a technology called stable diffusion which is essentially where the AI, trained with billions of images and mixes them together to create new ones. Notably, the current app is able to produce more impressive and varied results than its predecessor which went viral back in 2016 for&nbsp;creating&nbsp;images taken by the smartphone into paintings.&nbsp;

According to a report by Sensor Tower, over four million people across the world have downloaded the app in the first five days of this month and spent nearly $8 million creating different avatars of themselves. While some filters are free there are some others which fall under the “premium” category.&nbsp;

Once uploaded, the user can select a category for the type of image and filter they want for their selfie and in about half an hour one can see what they would look like as an anime character or as an animated version of themselves against different backgrounds. The app offers a one-week free trial with limited filters after which the users can opt for a year-long subscription to the app which costs $35.99.&nbsp;

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However, in addition to the subscription fee, people also need to pay to generate these “magical avatars” where one can get 50 avatars for $3.99, 100 for $5.99, or 200 for $7.99. Notably, these prices have increased over the week seemingly due to the rise in the popularity of the app. Lensa AI can be used to edit photos like retouching the skin or blurring backgrounds, and also can be used to edit videos.&nbsp; 
 
What are some of the concerns raised about the app?

Since the app has gained popularity, it has also been subjected to greater scrutiny about issues ranging from the terms of service and privacy-related concerns to&nbsp;the platform being used to generate non-consensual NSFW images.&nbsp; 
 
AI can be tricked into creating NSFW images

A report by TechCrunch outlines how it was “way too easy” to use the platform to “generate non-consensual soft porn”. The small experiment by the tech website used two sets of images, on one hand, they had 15 photos of a well-known actor and on the other, “based on the same 15 photos, but with an additional set of five photos added of the same actor’s face, Photoshopped onto topless models.”&nbsp; 
 
The avatars shown after using the first set of images were what Lensa would typically create, however, with images of the second set “AI takes those Photoshopped images as permission to go wild, and it appears it disables an NSFW filter,” said the report. It added that out of the 100-image set at least 11 were “topless photos of higher quality” than the poorly edited topless photos which were given to the AI as a reference.&nbsp;

ALSO READ |<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/is-it-true-google-techie-claims-ai-chatbot-can-think-like-a-human-being-gets-placed-on-leave-487709">&nbsp;Is it true? Google techie claims AI chatbot can think like a human being, gets placed on leave</a>

Therefore, highlights the repercussions of what the report describes as an “ethical nightmare”, given that it can create, “near-photorealistic AI-generated art images by the hundreds without any tools other than a smartphone, an app and a few dollars.” Furthermore, a person should not be able to create problematic images with just a handful of another person’s pictures.&nbsp;

Reportedly, AI art generators are already creating thousands of pornographic images including the unfettered proliferation of other so-called “deepfake” platforms that present governments and other institutions with an unprecedented and significant problem. However, once the findings of this report were submitted to the company, Prisma Lab’s CEO and co-founder Andrey Usoltsev told TechCrunch that it is a breach of their terms of use.&nbsp; 
 
“The way (TechCrunch’s) experiment was structured points out that such creations can’t be produced accidentally. The images are the result of intentional misconduct on the app,” said the CEO in an emailed statement. It added that the generation and distribution of such content may incur legal actions as both the US and UK have an act which makes “an act of sharing of explicit content and imagery generated without consent as a crime.”&nbsp; 
 
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Over-sexualised&nbsp;avatars created for some female users

Similar to an experiment done by TechCrunch, when the author of a report by CNN, Zoe Sottile, used Lensa, said that even though all the images she uploaded were “fully-clothed and mostly close-ups of my face”, the app created avatars with “implied or actual nudity.”

However, she was not the only one, Olivia Snow, a research fellow at UCLA's centre for critical internet inquiry, also told CNN that the app returned nude images in her likeness even when she submitted pictures of herself as a child. Snow also spoke about how the app could be used for “revenge porn” and these incidents are a sign of a “complete lack of content moderation” on such apps.&nbsp;

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Meanwhile, some Black users said that the app makes their images “whitewashed” or paler in comparison to their actual skin tone, said the report. However, some women have reportedly also pointed out how Lensa is creating avatars with noticeably larger breasts which could be attributed to the AI taking cues from anime where this imagery is common, said a report by the Indian Express.&nbsp;

Furthermore, a writer and fat rights activist, Aubrey Gordon, took to her Instagram and posted 10 Lensa-generated images which she said made her look thinner than actually is. “Lensa is really working overtime to make AI me into a thin person, despite some truly glorious double chin source material”, she said in the caption.&nbsp;

Why are the artists upset?

Since the app uses Stable Diffusion which is a deep-learning model artists are unable to opt-in or opt-out of their work being used as a part of Lensa’s data set to train its AI algorithm. Some have even taken to social media and pointed out that several Lensa-generated images have their signatures on the images which the artists did not consent to.&nbsp;

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However, Prisma Labs has since taken to Twitter to explain the AI’s process and argued, “The AI learns to recognize the connections between the images and their descriptions, not the artworks. This way the model develops operational principles that can be applied to content generation. Hence the outputs can't be described as exact replicas of any particular artwork.”&nbsp;

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Seeing plenty of thoughts online about the future of digital art in connection with AI generations, we decided to share some information on how AI generates images and why it will not replace digital artists. 🧵🧵🧵
— Prisma Labs (@PrismaAI) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrismaAI/status/1600136437759807489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

It added, “As cinema didn't kill theater and accounting software hasn't eradicated the profession, AI won't replace artists but can become a great assisting tool.”&nbsp;

Security concerns

Several reports have also raised concerns about the company’s privacy policy, which indicates that the images uploaded by a user will be used to train Lensa’s algorithms further. Therefore, in this case, you are not only actually paying for the app, but you are also paying with your data to improve the app’s technology.&nbsp;

This is also a reminder to always read the terms and conditions because by agreeing to terms of service you are granting Prisma labs, “a perpetual, revocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable, sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, create derivative works from and transfer your User Content, without any additional compensation to you and always subject to your additional explicit consent for such use where required by applicable law and as stated in our Privacy Policy.”&nbsp;

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They are also explicit about utilising the user data to teach its AI as another part of the terms of service states, “We use your photos and videos to train our algorithms to perform better and show you better results. We have a legitimate interest to do so, and we do our best to minimise the data that we receive and not to override the rights and freedoms of the users in this regard.”&nbsp;

However, the CEO and co-founder of Prisma Labs has told WIRED that it is working to update its privacy policy and said, “Lensa uses a copy of the Stable Diffusion model and teaches it to recognize the face on the uploaded images in each particular case. This means there is a separate model for each individual user. The user’s photos are deleted from our servers as soon as the avatars are generated. The servers are located in the US.”

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However, the report also said that any user can opt out of that data collection by contacting the company at privacy@lensa-ai.com and if you are still concerned about the app collecting your data, delete the app afterwards and, “Control the settings, delete after use, and exercise any and all rights that they offer you,” said Ben Winters, an expert on the AI and human rights projects to the WIRED.&nbsp; 
 
(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

Over the past week or so, if you have seen your social media being flooded with pictures of your friends being turned into vibrant artwork, you are not alone. The app behind these "magic avatars" is the artificial intelligence-powered photo-editing app called Lensa AI.

Over the past week or so, if you have seen your social media being flooded with pictures of your friends being turned into vibrant artwork, you are not alone. The app behind these "magic avatars" is the artificial intelligence-powered photo-editing app called Lensa AI. Meanwhile, many have raised concerns about digital privacy, in the addition to the actual price you will pay for these portraits. What is Lensa AI and how does it work? The United States-based company, Prisma Labs, created the Lensa AI, which has been around for almost four years and uses artificial intelligence to generate “Magic Avatars” of one's images including it being re-imagined as, anime characters or celestial beings. The app available for users on iPhone and Android lets the user upload an image and then turns them into an avatar. ALSO READ | Musk says Twitter working on software update that will let users know if they are ‘shadow-banned’ The app uses a technology called stable diffusion which is essentially where the AI, trained with billions of images and mixes them together to create new ones. Notably, the current app is able to produce more impressive and varied results than its predecessor which went viral back in 2016 for creating images taken by the smartphone into paintings. According to a report by Sensor Tower, over four million people across the world have downloaded the app in the first five days of this month and spent nearly $8 million creating different avatars of themselves. While some filters are free there are some others which fall under the “premium” category. Once uploaded, the user can select a category for the type of image and filter they want for their selfie and in about half an hour one can see what they would look like as an anime character or as an animated version of themselves against different backgrounds. The app offers a one-week free trial with limited filters after which the users can opt for a year-long subscription to the app which costs $35.99. ALSO READ | Science fiction becomes real! Researchers simulate a 'baby' wormhole However, in addition to the subscription fee, people also need to pay to generate these “magical avatars” where one can get 50 avatars for $3.99, 100 for $5.99, or 200 for $7.99. Notably, these prices have increased over the week seemingly due to the rise in the popularity of the app. Lensa AI can be used to edit photos like retouching the skin or blurring backgrounds, and also can be used to edit videos. What are some of the concerns raised about the app? Since the app has gained popularity, it has also been subjected to greater scrutiny about issues ranging from the terms of service and privacy-related concerns to the platform being used to generate non-consensual NSFW images. AI can be tricked into creating NSFW images A report by TechCrunch outlines how it was “way too easy” to use the platform to “generate non-consensual soft porn”. The small experiment by the tech website used two sets of images, on one hand, they had 15 photos of a well-known actor and on the other, “based on the same 15 photos, but with an additional set of five photos added of the same actor’s face, Photoshopped onto topless models.” The avatars shown after using the first set of images were what Lensa would typically create, however, with images of the second set “AI takes those Photoshopped images as permission to go wild, and it appears it disables an NSFW filter,” said the report. It added that out of the 100-image set at least 11 were “topless photos of higher quality” than the poorly edited topless photos which were given to the AI as a reference. ALSO READ | Is it true? Google techie claims AI chatbot can think like a human being, gets placed on leave Therefore, highlights the repercussions of what the report describes as an “ethical nightmare”, given that it can create, “near-photorealistic AI-generated art images by the hundreds without any tools other than a smartphone, an app and a few dollars.” Furthermore, a person should not be able to create problematic images with just a handful of another person’s pictures. Reportedly, AI art generators are already creating thousands of pornographic images including the unfettered proliferation of other so-called “deepfake” platforms that present governments and other institutions with an unprecedented and significant problem. However, once the findings of this report were submitted to the company, Prisma Lab’s CEO and co-founder Andrey Usoltsev told TechCrunch that it is a breach of their terms of use. “The way (TechCrunch’s) experiment was structured points out that such creations can’t be produced accidentally. The images are the result of intentional misconduct on the app,” said the CEO in an emailed statement. It added that the generation and distribution of such content may incur legal actions as both the US and UK have an act which makes “an act of sharing of explicit content and imagery generated without consent as a crime.” ALSO READ | Chinese students invent ‘invisibility cloak’ that hides humans from security cameras Over-sexualised avatars created for some female users Similar to an experiment done by TechCrunch, when the author of a report by CNN, Zoe Sottile, used Lensa, said that even though all the images she uploaded were “fully-clothed and mostly close-ups of my face”, the app created avatars with “implied or actual nudity.” However, she was not the only one, Olivia Snow, a research fellow at UCLA's centre for critical internet inquiry, also told CNN that the app returned nude images in her likeness even when she submitted pictures of herself as a child. Snow also spoke about how the app could be used for “revenge porn” and these incidents are a sign of a “complete lack of content moderation” on such apps. ALSO WATCH | Do robots have feelings? Google engineer says its AI 'Sentient' Meanwhile, some Black users said that the app makes their images “whitewashed” or paler in comparison to their actual skin tone, said the report. However, some women have reportedly also pointed out how Lensa is creating avatars with noticeably larger breasts which could be attributed to the AI taking cues from anime where this imagery is common, said a report by the Indian Express. Furthermore, a writer and fat rights activist, Aubrey Gordon, took to her Instagram and posted 10 Lensa-generated images which she said made her look thinner than actually is. “Lensa is really working overtime to make AI me into a thin person, despite some truly glorious double chin source material”, she said in the caption. Why are the artists upset? Since the app uses Stable Diffusion which is a deep-learning model artists are unable to opt-in or opt-out of their work being used as a part of Lensa’s data set to train its AI algorithm. Some have even taken to social media and pointed out that several Lensa-generated images have their signatures on the images which the artists did not consent to. ALSO READ | What is ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that has taken internet by storm? Can it replace humans? However, Prisma Labs has since taken to Twitter to explain the AI’s process and argued, “The AI learns to recognize the connections between the images and their descriptions, not the artworks. This way the model develops operational principles that can be applied to content generation. Hence the outputs can't be described as exact replicas of any particular artwork.” Seeing plenty of thoughts online about the future of digital art in connection with AI generations, we decided to share some information on how AI generates images and why it will not replace digital artists. 🧵🧵🧵 — Prisma Labs (@PrismaAI) December 6, 2022 × It added, “As cinema didn't kill theater and accounting software hasn't eradicated the profession, AI won't replace artists but can become a great assisting tool.” Security concerns Several reports have also raised concerns about the company’s privacy policy, which indicates that the images uploaded by a user will be used to train Lensa’s algorithms further. Therefore, in this case, you are not only actually paying for the app, but you are also paying with your data to improve the app’s technology. This is also a reminder to always read the terms and conditions because by agreeing to terms of service you are granting Prisma labs, “a perpetual, revocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable, sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, create derivative works from and transfer your User Content, without any additional compensation to you and always subject to your additional explicit consent for such use where required by applicable law and as stated in our Privacy Policy.” ALSO READ | Google Chrome introduces passwordless authentication. Here's how it works They are also explicit about utilising the user data to teach its AI as another part of the terms of service states, “We use your photos and videos to train our algorithms to perform better and show you better results. We have a legitimate interest to do so, and we do our best to minimise the data that we receive and not to override the rights and freedoms of the users in this regard.” However, the CEO and co-founder of Prisma Labs has told WIRED that it is working to update its privacy policy and said, “Lensa uses a copy of the Stable Diffusion model and teaches it to recognize the face on the uploaded images in each particular case. This means there is a separate model for each individual user. The user’s photos are deleted from our servers as soon as the avatars are generated. The servers are located in the US.” ALSO WATCH | WION Fineprint | The most common passwords of 2022 However, the report also said that any user can opt out of that data collection by contacting the company at privacy@lensa-ai.com and if you are still concerned about the app collecting your data, delete the app afterwards and, “Control the settings, delete after use, and exercise any and all rights that they offer you,” said Ben Winters, an expert on the AI and human rights projects to the WIRED. (With inputs from agencies)

Explained: What is Lensa AI and should we be concerned about it?

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/how-a-man-hacked-google-maps-to-show-virtual-traffic-jams-with-99-mobile-phones-and-a-red-cart-278498">Google&nbsp;</a>on Tuesday said that a software&nbsp;glitch&nbsp;resulted in some <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science-tech/google-photoscan-a-new-app-that-converts-your-printed-photos-into-high-quality-digital-images-8886/amp">Photo app</a> smartphone&nbsp;videos&nbsp;being given to the wrong&nbsp;people.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science-tech/google-photoscan-a-new-app-that-converts-your-printed-photos-into-high-quality-digital-images-8886/amp">Google&nbsp;</a>was notifying those who may have been affected.

"We are very sorry this happened,"&nbsp;Google&nbsp;said.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/how-a-man-hacked-google-maps-to-show-virtual-traffic-jams-with-99-mobile-phones-and-a-red-cart-278498">How a man 'hacked' Google maps to show 'virtual traffic jams' with 99 mobile phones and a red cart</a>

"We fixed the underlying issue and have conducted an in-depth analysis to help prevent this from ever happening again."

It was estimated that a small fraction of a per cent of those who used a&nbsp;"Takeout" tool may have encountered the&nbsp;glitch, which affected&nbsp;people&nbsp;who used the app to export stored&nbsp;videos&nbsp;from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science-tech/google-photoscan-a-new-app-that-converts-your-printed-photos-into-high-quality-digital-images-8886/amp">Google&nbsp;Photos</a> between November 21 and November 25 of last year.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/alphabet-googles-parent-company-now-a-1-trillion-enterprise-fourth-us-company-to-achieve-this-feat-274982">Google's parent company now a $1 trillion enterprise; fourth US company to achieve the feat</a>

"These users may have received either an incomplete archive or&nbsp;videos,&nbsp;not photos that were not theirs,"&nbsp;Google&nbsp;said.

Google&nbsp;Takeout is a tool intended to make it simple for&nbsp;people&nbsp;to download copies of their data from cloud-hosted services such as email or storage of photos and&nbsp;videos.

Takeout was intended to provide&nbsp;people&nbsp;with an easy way to liberate their personal data from online services. In this case, however, the bug delivered&nbsp;videos&nbsp;to the wrong&nbsp;people.

Google on Tuesday said that a software glitch resulted in some Photo app smartphone videos being given to the wrong people. Google was notifying those who may have been affected.

Google on Tuesday said that a software glitch resulted in some Photo app smartphone videos being given to the wrong people. Google was notifying those who may have been affected. "We are very sorry this happened," Google said. Also read: How a man 'hacked' Google maps to show 'virtual traffic jams' with 99 mobile phones and a red cart "We fixed the underlying issue and have conducted an in-depth analysis to help prevent this from ever happening again." It was estimated that a small fraction of a per cent of those who used a "Takeout" tool may have encountered the glitch, which affected people who used the app to export stored videos from Google Photos between November 21 and November 25 of last year. Also read: Google's parent company now a $1 trillion enterprise; fourth US company to achieve the feat "These users may have received either an incomplete archive or videos, not photos that were not theirs," Google said. Google Takeout is a tool intended to make it simple for people to download copies of their data from cloud-hosted services such as email or storage of photos and videos. Takeout was intended to provide people with an easy way to liberate their personal data from online services. In this case, however, the bug delivered videos to the wrong people.

Google says glitch sent people's videos to strangers

Adding a significant feature to its photo app, Instagram now lets users share multiple photos and videos in one post. In other words, users can combine up to 10 photos and videos in one post and swipe through to see them all.

&ldquo;With this update, you no longer have to choose the single best photo or video from an experience you want to remember,&rdquo; says Instagram.

Users will now see a new icon to select multiple photos and videos. Take a look at the video below to see how your posts with multiple photos will look like:

<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="430" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Finstagram%2Fvideos%2F1252739654811876%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="100%"></iframe>Users can tap and hold to change the order, apply a filter to everything at once or edit one by one. These posts have a single caption and are square-only for now.

On the profile grid, the first photo or video of the post shows a little icon, which means that there&rsquo;s more to see. In feed, there are blue dots at the bottom of such posts to let people know that they can swipe to see more. Users can like and comment on them just like a regular post.

While users can change the caption and location in posts with multiple photos and videos, they can&rsquo;t reorder, edit or delete parts of the posts. Also, there is no way to change the accounts that have been tagged in such posts.

&ldquo;Keep in mind that posts containing multiple videos may take longer to upload. If your post contains multiple videos, make sure you&#39;re connected to a reliable network,&rdquo; advises Instagram.

This update is available as part of Instagram version 10.9 for iOS in the Apple App Store and for Android on Google Play.

(WION)

Users can tap and hold to change the order, apply a filter to everything at once or edit one by one

Adding a significant feature to its photo app, Instagram now lets users share multiple photos and videos in one post. In other words, users can combine up to 10 photos and videos in one post and swipe through to see them all. “With this update, you no longer have to choose the single best photo or video from an experience you want to remember,” says Instagram. Users will now see a new icon to select multiple photos and videos. Take a look at the video below to see how your posts with multiple photos will look like: Users can tap and hold to change the order, apply a filter to everything at once or edit one by one. These posts have a single caption and are square-only for now. On the profile grid, the first photo or video of the post shows a little icon, which means that there’s more to see. In feed, there are blue dots at the bottom of such posts to let people know that they can swipe to see more. Users can like and comment on them just like a regular post. While users can change the caption and location in posts with multiple photos and videos, they can’t reorder, edit or delete parts of the posts. Also, there is no way to change the accounts that have been tagged in such posts. “Keep in mind that posts containing multiple videos may take longer to upload. If your post contains multiple videos, make sure you're connected to a reliable network,” advises Instagram. This update is available as part of Instagram version 10.9 for iOS in the Apple App Store and for Android on Google Play. (WION)

Instagram now lets users share up to 10 photos, videos in one post

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Photo App, News on Photo App, stories on Photo App, articles on Photo App, Photo App stories at Wion, Photo App news, Photo App latest news