What is Lensa and why has it recently become so popular?

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How This AI Went Viral, And Also Controversial, With Its ‘Magic Avatars’ Feature | Eyerys

Lensa is a photo editor created in 2018 by Prisma Labs. It is currently one of the most frequently downloaded free apps on App store. Although it is available only for iPhone users, it is one of the most popular apps of the second half of 2022. It is also considered one of the milestones of digital art.

But what is the reason of its’ huge popularity? What has captured users’ attention? ‘

For one it has recently started offering the “magic avatar” feature. It is based on AI, which generates fantasy avatars of users and displays them in fantasy, comic, cartoonish style. It is fun, with a little dose of mystery. Who doesn’t love that? That possibility has helped its’ developers to enter new areas of the market and target new social groups. Nearly every Instagram influencer has tried it out, most of them even posted it on their social  media. Needless to say that’s currently the most popular and effective way of advertising.

How does it work?

“In order to get your own AI-generated portraits, you have to download the Lensa app and upload between 10 and 20 photographs. The app specifies that photos should be individual shots of the same person. Close-up selfies that show facial features, a variety of backgrounds, facial expressions and head tilts are ideal.

Users are asked to specify gender — female, male or other — which impacts what kind of prompts the AI generator is fed and which archived images it pulls from its own database to create all-new versions of your likeness.

The process takes 40 minutes on average to produce initial images, but depending on how many people are using the app, it can take a lot longer. The app does track how long you have to wait and notifies you when your photos are ready.”( Sofia Misenheimer, mtlblog.com)

Of course the company had to face a fair dose of challenges too. Many users, especially women have been complaining that the displayed images were very sexual. Since the AI database is full of all kinds of anime drawings and graphics, it bases the outcomes on what their content is. And unfortunately often times it is sexual or has overly sexualized features.

Another obstacle that they had to overcome was the rage of graphic designers. Not only did they blame Lensa for taking away their clients and jobs. The database on which the  AI bases the outcome of its’ works, consists of graphic designs made by those same graphic designers without their permission. Some of them even state that many of the AI created images are very similar, if not the same, as their original ones. Company responded to those accusations in one tweet: “As cinema didn’t kill theatre and accounting software hasn’t eradicated the profession, AI won’t replace artists but can become a great assisting tool,”. Unfortunately, needless to say that statement didn’t calm the artists, who have already lost a huge part of their incomes due to the cheap and accessible work of Lensa app.

The discussion about the ethics of the Lensa policy and the possibility of the app running the artists out of business is ongoing, but it hasn’t affected the amount of its’ downloads.

Lensa app is still extremally popular and currently working on developing new, exciting features, which would interest users even more.

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