Have you noticed that many of your friends are suddenly fairy princesses or space travelers? Is your Instagram feed overrun with Renaissance-style paintings of people who were definitely born in the ’90s? If so, you are entitled to an explanation of what exactly is going on here (and it’s not time travel).
In the past week, users have flocked to Lensa AI, an app that uses your selfies and artificial intelligence to create portraits in a variety of styles. Created by the company Prisma Labs, the app is generating images — and controversy.
What is Lensa AI?
Even if you haven’t heard of Lensa AI, you’ve possibly seen its work this week. As of Wednesday, it was the most popular iPhone app in the United States in Apple’s app store. Lensa takes your selfies, studies them and churns out original, computer-generated portraits of you — or anyone whose photos you feed it.
Do I have to pay for it?
You do. Right now, you can get 50 avatars — 10 images in five styles — for $3.99 during a one-week trial period. (For $35.99 you can subscribe to Lensa AI for the year, which gets you a 51 percent discount on future avatars.) “Magic Avatars consume tremendous computation power to create amazing avatars for you,” according to Lensa’s checkout page. “It’s expensive, but we made it as affordable as possible.” Fair warning: Prices have been fluctuating as the app has gotten more and more popular and may have changed since this article was published.
