Lensa AI Avatar App is Taking Instagram by a Storm, But Critics Object to Using it: Why?

With an AI generator app, you can enhance any photo of yourself and transform it into a cute avatar or an anime character.

Over Instagram and other social media sites, the Lensa AI app is becoming quickly popular among users. This software uses magic avatars, letting users upload their pictures and download the new results immediately.

While other people appreciate the app's features, some critics are concerned about the ethics behind its use.

Lensa AI App and Magic Avatars

According to USA Today, the most recent trend in social media starts with the Lensa AI app, which became famous for stable diffusion, a network model created by Prisma. In this particular model, typing a word or phrase can generate a magic avatar on the web.

Users can also use their own images and experiment with how they look in different angles and cosmetics; Since it's AI-trained, it relies on LAION 5B dataset for pairing image and text in one frame

To generate your avatar-style picture, you will only need to wait at least 10 minutes for the machine to analyze the system. Once the avatars are ready for download, the photos from the users will be permanently removed from the site.

"Each time a user purchases a new pack of avatars, the process repeats from scratch. That's why we ask you to upload photos every time you request a new package," Lensa wrote on its website.

Some viral images on the Lensa app include Disney avatars such as Cinderella, Belle, Aurora, and more. The resemblance of AI-generated images look almost similar to the original pictures of the users.

How Prisma Arrived With Stable Diffusion

The open-source model dubbed "Stable diffusion" is the only new technology in the Lensa app. Prisma just launched three months ago.

According to Prisma's chief technology officer Yaron Inger, creating stable diffusion comes with millions of photos on the internet. The images actually came from different sources on the open web. With this, the model mimics a brain with hallucination episodes based on the stored memories, which are the data.

Why Do Artists Question Lensa AI App?

Indeed, the Lensa AI app is one of the most viral apps on social media, and it's no wonder why users prefer to use it over other AI generator apps.

However, some artists think that Prisma has a controversial take on this app. Some say that the company is using their artwork without any consent or permission, according to a report by NBC News.

The subscription pricing of $7.99 allows users to receive 50 different avatars through the app. Some artists see this as a small amount compared to the normal pricing of their commissions.

Karla Ortiz, an artist who opposes the AI app, says that while other companies aim to "bring art to the masses," Lensa promotes art forgery and theft to the public.

Meanwhile, some social media users point out that the Lensa AI app appears racist and misogynistic.