Popular App Will Transform Your Selfie Into an Artsy Avatar, But It Comes With a Warning

Sometimes, there's an app that is so captivating it takes the world by storm. NewProfilePic is that app of the moment, and it’s giving anyone who uses it an artsy avatar for their social media accounts. Using artificial intelligence, the technology transforms photos into stylized portraits that look like they’ve been digitally painted. The pictures even have a splashy background to suggest a hand-painted touch; it's incredible that these drawings are generated by a computer. To demonstrate just how powerful it is, people have been generating photos of celebrities using the app.

Part of the reason that NewProfilePic is so popular—aside from creating an aesthetically pleasing image–is that it’s easy to use. You simply upload your photo and choose a cartoon style. The app does the rest, and in just a few seconds you have a new picture to share on all of your social media profiles. Everyone who puts their photo through NewProfilePic is glowing, with softened features as if there is vaseline over the lens of a camera. Who wouldn’t want to look younger and like they have great skin?

The trending app is not without controversy, though, and privacy experts are sounding the alarm. The company behind it is Linerock Investments, which is registered in Moscow. It captures photographs in high resolution and then the data is theirs to keep and use at their disposal. By downloading the app, users agree to share their location, details about their device as well as photos on their social media. “I would question any app wanting this amount of data,” explains Jake Moore, a cybersecurity expert, “especially one which is largely unheard of and based in another country.”

The conversation surrounding this app is a good reminder that we need to be careful with our sensitive data and to always be discerning when it comes to what we put on our phones. When our data is shared, it’s nearly impossible to have control of it again.

The app NewProfilePic has started a new trend: people are using its AI technology to turn their selfies into an artsy avatar.

Celebrities have been given the NewProfilePic treatment…

…and non-celebrities have also been using it as a fun way to shake up their social media presence.

 

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The trending app is not without controversy, though, and privacy experts are sounding the alarm.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Samantha Scholey Dyson (@sammyls103)

The company behind it is Linerock Investments, which is registered in Moscow. It captures photographs in high resolution and then the data is theirs to keep and use at their disposal.

 

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A post shared by Michael Pez (@michaelpez)

 

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A post shared by Kince (@thislilgecko)

 

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A post shared by Henrik Lindholm (@h.lindholm)

NewProfilePic: Website

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Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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