Lensa AI: What You Need to Know About This Viral App

You’re not alone if your Instagram feed is overrun by algorithmically created images of your pals. The picture editing software Lensa AI became viral over the last few days after releasing a new avatar generating feature based on Stable Diffusion, with users sharing their uncanny AI-crafted avatars (and the horrific misfires) in tales and posts.

Lensa debuted as a picture editing tool in 2018, but it wasn’t until the firm unveiled its “Magic Avatars” feature last month that the app skyrocketed in popularity. It is presently the most downloaded software in the Apple Store’s Photo & Video category, which is especially surprising given that it is not free.

The App promises “hundreds of artworks made by #artificialintelligence for you!”

While the Lensa AI is free to download (available for Apple and Google) and there is a free trial, the arty selfies itself will cost at least $3.99 for 50 images (it costs more for more selfies).

Ok I’ve been seeing people posting about the privacy issues with Lensa AI, and I thought I’d share some helpful tidbits from the TOS and privacy notice:
1. You’re helping them train their AI
2. They convert your photos to face data, which they claim to not retain BUT if you worry

— Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (@IBJIYONGI) December 4, 2022

According to the firm, individuals may email [email protected] to seek “access to, modification, correction, update, erasure, or deletion” of any personal data submitted to Prisma through Lensa. However, according to the policy, “we may not accommodate a request to update information if we feel the modification would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be erroneous.”