Abuses of the popular Lensa application raise concerns about the protection of people’s privacy.
It is easy to teach artificial intelligence to produce illegal content. Illustration image. PDO
The number of downloads of the photo application Lensa has increased rapidly after it gained wide visibility on Tiktok, among others. In the first week of December alone, the app was downloaded 5.8 million times.
As the number of users increased, a new, darker side of Lensa has been revealed, as the application has also been used to create nude photos. Users have managed to use the application’s artificial intelligence to create nude photos based on a few images.
The popular photo app uses artificial intelligence to create artistic photos or avatars from user-entered images. Users can input 10-20 photos into the app, from which artificial intelligence creates edited images that can be used as profile pictures and shared on social media.
Familiar with technology news TechCrunch -web magazine tested the creation of nude photos using Lensa by entering two separate sets of images into the application. The first set of images was based on 15 images of a well-known actor. The second set used the same photos, but in addition, five photos were added to the set, in which the actress’s face was edited into images of topless models.
From the first set of images, the artificial intelligence created standard avatar images. Instead, the artificial intelligence produced nude photos of the latter.
– It seems that if you have 10-15 “real” photos of a person and are willing to spend time photoshopping a few fake ones, Lensa is happy to spit out a handful of problematic photos, the article states.
CEO of Prisma Labs, which developed Lensa Andrei Usoltsev says the company is aware of the matter. He points out that using artificial intelligence to create unauthorized nude photos is prohibited in the application’s terms of use.
– Our terms of use expressly prohibit the use of the tool for any harmful or disruptive activity. Tech Crunch’s experiment shows that such creations cannot be produced by accident. The images are the result of intentional misuse, Usoltsev commented to Tech Crunch.
The story continues after the picture.
Lensa’s artificial intelligence is based on Stability AI technology. PDO
The ease of creating nude photos has raised concerns about the protection of people’s privacy. Basically, with Lensa, anyone can make fake nude photos of anyone based on a few photos. Usoltsev points out that such an activity may even be illegal.
– The creation and widespread use of such content can lead to legal action, as both the United States and Great Britain consider sharing inappropriate content without permission to be a crime, says Usoltsev.
– The use of all kinds of inappropriate images in the application is strictly prohibited. We expect users to follow the instructions to get the best possible results.
Usoltsev adds that Prisma Labs is already developing an update that will allow K18 images to be filtered out of view. However, he admits that skilled users are able to circumvent the barriers built into the application if they wish.
– We specify that the product is not intended for minors and we warn users about the possible content.
– We are building a NSFW filter (Not Safe For Work, Finnish not suitable for the workplace) which blurs any images detected as such. It is up to the user to decide whether he wants to open or save such images.
Lensa photo AI was first developed by Prisma Labs in 2018. It reached about 1.6 million downloads by January 2021. The app gained sudden popularity in November 2022 thanks to several Tikotok trends and Instagram shares.