'It's not just fun': Lensa AI portrait app raises ethical, privacy concerns

CTV National News: Privacy concerns over Lensa John Vennavally-Rao reports on the privacy concerns of Lensa and other apps that use AI technology to generate images in various styles.

So-called ‘magic avatars’ are the latest internet craze, but one expert says individuals participating in the trend may not be aware of the ethical and privacy concerns involved.

Kerry Bowman, a bioethicist at the University of Toronto, says the Lensa app, which creates portraits of individuals using artificial intelligence (AI), has the potential to negatively affect one's self-image, among other ethical issues.

With Lensa, users can upload 10 to 20 images of themselves to create "magic avatars," which depict individuals in fantasy-like settings where they are supposed to appear more "enhanced" than how they really look.

"In some ways, it can be a lot of fun but these idealized images are being driven by social expectations which can be very cruel and very narrow," Bowman told CTV's Your Morning on Monday.

These depictions are often unrealistic and don't always portray typical human features accurately, Bowman explained. In some examples, individuals with darker skin tones are illustrated lighter, or those with larger body types are made to look smaller.

Bowman said these AI programs gather data from the internet in search of different art styles to create these portraits. However, the original art styles and artwork created by real artists are rarely compensated for the use of their work.

"What happens with emerging AI is that the laws have not been able to really keep up with this in terms of copyright law. It's very difficult and very murky and ethics is even further behind the laws because I would argue that this is fundamentally unfair," Bowman said.

This controversial method Lensa uses is called the Stable Diffusion model, in which many artists don't have the option to opt-in or opt-out of having their artwork used.

Lastly, Bowman said individuals should consider how the app stores their personal data and the potential use of their face.

"Do you really want your face on a large database? People need to decide for themselves about this but it's not benign, there's not nothing to this, it's not just fun," he said.

According to the app's privacy policy, photos are only stored within the app for 24 hours; however, it indicates that with each photo processed the algorithm gathers data from the photo for better future results.

Bowman said this leads to safety concerns with the use of facial recognition, especially as this type of data has been debated with the police's use of it.

Ultimately, Bowman said individuals should be more aware of their online activity and consider all the potential dangers that come with it.