Photo: Jian-Cheng Lai, Bao Research Group @ Stanford University

Waiting for a wound to heal can feel like forever. And as you wait, cuts and scrapes are vulnerable to infection, which can delay the healing process. However, soon there may be a solution that can help speed things up. Researchers at Stanford University debuted a “smart bandage” that not only helps treat wounds but also monitors their healing status.

Although it is the same size as your average bandage, this new piece of technology is actually composed of wireless circuitry that uses electrical stimulation to accelerate tissue closure and reduce the chances of infection. The entire electronic layer—which includes biosensors and a microcontroller unit (MCU)—is layered with hydrogel, which acts as a courier for the electrical stimulation to the injured tissue. In addition, all of the healing processes are monitored through the bandage and can be checked via a smartphone.

“In sealing the wound, the smart bandage protects as it heals,” says Yuanwen Jiang, the first co-author of the study and a post-doctoral scholar in the lab of Zhenan Bao, the K.K. Lee Professor in Chemical Engineering in the Stanford School of Engineering. “But it is not a passive tool. It is an active healing device that could transform the standard of care in the treatment of chronic wounds.”

Although the data looks promising, researchers still have to address how they will scale up the smart bandage to other larger sizes, reduce the cost of production, and take into consideration the possible negative effects the hydrogel will have on the skin, causing irritation in some. Even so, the hope is that the smart bandage will offer a new standard of care to those who are afflicted by recurring ailments.

Scientists at Stanford University have created a “smart bandage” that can help heal wounds faster and monitor their healing process.

Photo: Jian-Cheng Lai, Bao Research Group @ Stanford University

h/t: [DesignTAXI, EurekAlert!]

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READ: ‘Smart Bandage’ Designed To Help Heal Wounds Faster

Can you recall your Google searches throughout the year? With so much that happened, it can be hard to remember all of the news and pop culture that took off over the course of 12 months. After Statista released a graphic summarizing four categories of top searches, Google released a lengthy list of search trends in 2022. The Year in Search provides the top five most searched terms in numerous categories, which you can view for 58 different countries as well as globally.

Unsurprisingly, the most popular search of all was “Wordle”—the title of the word game that swept the nation in early 2022. It topped the global list as well as the trends for the United States. Coming in third of the top overall global searches was “Ukraine,” which illustrates the worldwide impact Russia's invasion of the Eastern European country has had since February 2022. Ranking fourth on the same list is “Queen Elizabeth,” who passed away in September after 70 years of service at the age of 96.

Other categories shine a light on different interests that have captured our attention over the year. For instance, the most searched recipe was Paneer pasanda, a popular Indian dish that consists of paneer sandwiches and an onion-tomato sauce. The number one searched song in the world was “Tak Ingin Usai” by Indonesian pop singer Keisya Levronka. And in the Athletes category, the top three spots in global rankings were taken by tennis giants: Novak Djokovic in first, Rafael Nadal in second, and Serena Williams in third.

Google was also asked many questions during 2022. In the United States, some of the most searched queries were “How to help,” with Ukraine and abortion rights being the top subjects. Similarly, the other popular question of the year was “How to pronounce,” with Qatar (the host country of the 2022 World Cup) and Kyiv (the capital of Ukraine) placing as number one and two, respectively.

Scroll down to watch the video of Google's Year in Search for 2022, and read Google's trends report to find more insight into global rankings and the lists for specific countries.

A new video captures Google's year in search from 2022.

h/t: [Lifehacker]

All images via Google.

Related Articles:

Top Google Searches of 2022 Reveals the Biggest Stories of the Year

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READ: Google Releases the Top Search Trends of 2022 for Every Country

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, My Modern Met may earn an affiliate commission. Please read our disclosure for more info.

For people who commute or travel, a good quality pair of headphones is a must. Usually, this means choosing between wireless earphones or ones that fit over-the-ears, but soon, there will be another option. British technology company Dyson—known for its array of vacuums—is debuting its first wearable product. Called Dyson Zone, this unique pair of headphones not only cancels outside noise, but it also purifies the air you breathe.

Created over a six-year period, this unique product offers the latest in audio and purifying technology, ideal for those living in cities and urban areas. “Air pollution is a global problem—it affects us everywhere we go. In our homes, at school, at work, and as we travel, whether on foot, on a bike or by public or private transport. The Dyson Zone™ purifies the air you breathe on the move,” says chief engineer Jake Dyson. “And unlike face masks, it delivers a plume of fresh air without touching your face, using high-performance filters and two miniaturized air pumps. After six years in development, we’re excited to deliver pure air and pure audio, anywhere.”

As the Dyson Zone headphones cancel noise pollution, the earpieces can simultaneously absorb air that is then filtered and delivered to the visor surrounding a person's nose and mouth. The visor comes with an electrostatic filter that lasts up to 12 months before requiring a replacement. Similarly, the headphones are capable of 38 decibels of noise cancellation and are compatible with Bluetooth, SBC, AC, and LHDC audio codecs. When not using the visor, the Dyson Zone headphones can last for about 50 hours; however, the battery time decreases to 4 hours when taking advantage of the air filtration system at its lowest setting. The medium filtration makes battery life 2.5 hours; high filtration makes battery life 1.5 hours.

The Dyson Zone will be available for pre-order by appointment only for U.S. customers beginning in March. Later, the headphones will be available to purchase via Dyson's website and through Dyson Demo stores starting at $949.

British technology company Dyson is debuting a unique pair of noise-canceling headphones.

Called Dyson Zone, these headphones include a detachable visor that purifies the air.

Watch this video to learn more about the Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones:

Dyson: Website 
h/t: [designboom, engadget]

All images via Dyson.

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READ: Dyson Debuts Noise-Canceling Headphones With Detachable Air-Purifying Visor

 

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Can you use artificial intelligence (AI) to fake a life? In the case of Kyle Vorbach, you can. The writer and director used Stable Diffusion AI image generator to create realistic photos of events that never happened. He did this for a whole month, generating believable but totally fake images—much to the shock of his friends and family.

Vorbach produced a video detailing his foray into constructing his AI-generated life. He covered the technical aspects of the endeavor to the emotional impact it had on him. It began with a simple need: a new picture for his social media profiles. Vorbach was living at his parents’ house in Upstate New York, and he had some extra time to play around with the possibilities of Stable Diffusion. After loading a version of it onto his computer and tweaking it to learn his face, he was blown away by the results. “Easily one of the best pictures I’ve ever taken, and I never even had to leave my bedroom,” Vorbach recalls.

This inspired him to take the project even further. “I generated my Halloween costume. I used AI to generate an entire fake trip to New York where I met up with my friend, who was also generated with AI. Everyone was believing my pictures. That’s when things started to get weird,” he says.

The acts of generating images, sharing them online, and having everyone in your life believe them was a turning point for Vorbach. “If I’m already generating my pictures, why not generate a whole new life? A life where I moved back to LA, a life where I lived in a really nice apartment, and so did my dog. A life where I could afford a really nice car. A life where my career finally takes off. A life where I might even run into a random celebrity. A better life.”

The resulting pictures—and the reveal to Vorbach’s friends and family—proved that AI can make a fake existence look real. But it had downsides and led to some sobering realizations for the creator. “When I started this project it was for fun, but it is a lot of work sifting through thousands of images all day and all night staring at a machine’s idea of your face until you don’t even know what you look like anymore,” he says at the end of the video.

“Every time I got a like on one of those pictures, I felt those endorphins like it was me. Like someone I know liked a picture of me. Eventually, I didn’t know where I stopped, and Ryan Gosling person began.”

The experience offers a look at the technical capabilities of AI—and how convincing they are—but also the need to get off the computer and live the type of happy life conveyed in the generated photos.

Can you use artificial intelligence (AI) to fake a life? In the case of Kyle Vorbach, you can.

 

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A post shared by k y l e v o r b a c h (@kylevorbach)

The writer and director used Stable Diffusion AI image generator to create realistic photos of events that never happened.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by k y l e v o r b a c h (@kylevorbach)

He did this for a whole month, generating believable but totally fake images—much to the shock of his friends and family.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by k y l e v o r b a c h (@kylevorbach)

This led to a whole new (fake) life in Los Angeles, where he had a nice apartment, a better car, and casual run-ins with celebrities.

 

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A post shared by k y l e v o r b a c h (@kylevorbach)

 

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A post shared by k y l e v o r b a c h (@kylevorbach)

 

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A post shared by k y l e v o r b a c h (@kylevorbach)

Watch how he faked his life in this video:

Related Articles:

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AI Image Generators Skyrocket to the Top of the U.S. App Charts

Art Trend of 2022: How AI Art Emerged and Polarized the Art World

READ: Man Fakes His Entire Life for a Month With Convincing AI-Generated Photos

Photo: prykhodov/Depositphotos

It's hard to summarize everything that occurred in one year. However, looking back at some of the most searched terms in 2022, will provide an illuminating overview. Statista has created a graphic that showcases some of the top search trends across four categories—news, people, movies, and passings.

Most of the number one results come as no surprise. The most searched news term, for example, was Ukraine; a reminder that it has about 10 months since Russian forces invaded the country in February 2022. Similarly, in second place is Queen Elizabeth II's passing. After 70 years of service, she died at the age of 96 as Britain's longest-reining monarch and the second-longest reigning sovereign in the world. Due to her international impact, Queen Elizabeth also came up as the number one search result in passings. The second-most searched name was American comedian and TV legend Betty White, who died almost one year ago on December 31, 2021, just shy of her 100th birthday milestone.

In the category of most searched people, actor Johnny Depp came up first, with his ex-wife Amber Heard placing nearby in third place. Many recall that the two were locked in a long and contentious trial, which dominated news headlines for months. Glancing at the most-searched movies, however, offers another analysis of 2022. Marvel's Thor: Love and Thunder ranked number one, with DC's Black Adam coming in second, and Top Gun: Maverick starring Tom Cruise ranking third.

Take a look at the other top ranked searches, below.

Statista has created a graphic featuring the top Google searches of 2022.

You can find more infographics at Statista.

h/t: [Digg]

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READ: Top Google Searches of 2022 Reveals the Biggest Stories of the Year

Photo: bubertart/Depositphotos
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, My Modern Met may earn an affiliate commission. Please read our disclosure for more info.

Ever since the Lensa AI app introduced its Magic Avatar feature, people have been flocking to Apple's app store in search of more ways to create AI art. Whether looking to make cute avatars or wishing to experiment with text-to-art capabilities, it's clearer than ever that AI's artistic possibilities have captured the imagination of the public. In fact, Tech Crunch noticed that following Lensa's success, AI apps are rising to the top of the U.S. App Store charts.

Currently, three of the top 10 free apps in the United States are AI generators. Lensa is currently the most downloaded and sits at number three on the charts. But closely following it at numbers four and five are Dawn (an AI avatar generator) and Aiby's AI Art Generator. All of the apps are free to download, but also have paid in-app features.

Several more apps sit within the top 50 on the general charts, but even more AI apps can be found when looking in the Graphics & Design category. Most of the apps will allow users to upload photos that can be transformed, much like Lensa. Additionally, they will also let users experiment with text prompts and different visual styles.

This success is mirrored in the Google Play Store, where Lensa and other AI apps are having similar success. And while these image generators can be fun, they aren't without controversy. It's always important for users to read how uploaded images will be used and if they'll be stored. And Stable Diffusion, the open-source model used by Lensa, is controversial for training the model using images without artists' permission. There's also concern about how some images it creates are based on cultural stereotypes.

So while these apps may seem harmless and fun to play with, it's always a good idea to ensure you are informed before you start using them or if you even start.

Here are the top 10 AI Apps currently dominating the U.S. App Store Charts.

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READ: AI Image Generators Skyrocket to the Top of the U.S. App Charts

Photo: Screenshot from Twitter

Hand washing is taught from a very young age, and the recent height of the pandemic really reinforced its importance. But we don't give as much thought to the cleanliness of our phones, even though they pick up bacteria easily and can be 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat, according to scientists at the University of Arizona. To combat this spread of germs, and therefore disease, some public places have phone washing stations. Recently, a tweet featuring a phone cleaning station embedded in the sink of a McDonald's in Japan went viral, as it sanitizes the device in seconds.

The tweet, posted by user Sho Sawada (@shao1555), reads “At McDonald's nowadays, not only do they have a place to wash your hands but one to wash your smartphone as well.” The tweet is accompanied by an illustrative video, showing exactly how this feature works. In the video, we can see the user placing the phone in a narrow slot. The device is lowered automatically and covered, as a light shines through the lid of the cleaning station while the phone is disinfected. Once it's ready, the machine ejects the phone slowly, ready to be taken by its owner.

This nifty system is called WOSH, and was developed by Japanese company WOTA. Its wonders go beyond the phone cleaning device, as it also boasts that it reuses more than 98% of the water it uses. To clean the smartphone, WOSH relies on a hydrological cycle system and deep ultraviolet lights, offering a sterilization of up to 99.9% in just 30 seconds.

While seeing WOSH in action definitely has a futuristic vibe to it, it would be ideal for such technology to be adopted around the world. If the reaction to this video—which has over 5.2 million views; 63,400 likes; and 11,900 retweets—is any indication, it would be a welcome addition to restrooms around the world. After all, adding this extra layer of hygiene is another way to take care of our global health.

A phone cleaning station embedded in the sink of a McDonald's in Japan recently made waves online, as it sanitizes the device in seconds.

Photo: jannystockphoto/Depositphotos

Named WOSH, the device relies on a hydrological cycle system and deep ultraviolet lights, offering a sterilization of up to 99.9% in just 30 seconds. See it in action in the video below.

最近のマクドナルド、手洗い場のみならずスマホ洗い場まであるぞ。。。 pic.twitter.com/sL6D4mZWoE

— shao as a service (@shao1555) October 26, 2022

WOTA: Website
h/t: [Neatorama]

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Photo: info.cineberg.com/DepositPhotos
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Nowadays, holiday shopping isn't confined to a trip to the mall; there's also a lot of money being spent online. Due to this, delivery drivers are often overworked during the winter season from an influx of orders. If you choose to shop from Amazon, however, you will now have the ability to thank your delivery driver. If you say, “Alexa, thank my driver,” Amazon will give that driver a $5 tip on your behalf.

This promotion celebrates Amazon's upcoming milestone of 15 billion packages delivered. Beginning December 7, the first one million drivers to receive thanks from customers will be gifted $5. In addition, Amazon will reward the five drivers who obtain the most tips with a $10,000 bonus, and another $10,000 donation to the charity of their choosing.

“For drivers, it’s more than just the packages that they deliver—they form relationships with customers, provide support to the community in tough moments, and sometimes play the role of the unexpected hero,” says Beryl Tomay, vice president of Last Mile Delivery at Amazon. Customers can send tips through any Alexa-enabled device, including Echo and Echo Show, or with the Alexa or Amazon Shopping mobile apps available on mobile devices.

Amazon has announced that they will tip their delivery drivers $5 if customers tell Alexa, “Alexa, thank my driver.”

h/t: [TechCrunch]

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READ: Amazon Will Tip Your Delivery Driver $5 If You Tell Alexa “Thank You”

Photo: Image created with DALL•E

Artificial intelligence has been around for years, but AI-generated artwork has really taken off in 2022. With its growing presence and its rise in implementation, AI has proven to be a powerful yet controversial tool in the art world. Its use leads many to ask several questions: Is it art? Is it cheating? And who does the credit go to?

There's no doubt that AI is becoming increasingly more prevalent in the art world and beyond—these algorithmic concoctions are doing everything from winning art competitions to being the focus of exhibitions in distinguished museums like the MoMA. In an ever-changing world where technology is rapidly progressing and digital means are major vehicles for art, it makes sense that new ways of digital creation are formed. Whether the ethical implications are good or bad, AI-generated artwork is here and it’s on the rise.

AI art is still very much in its infancy in the mainstream, but there are several kinds of online communities for those that love to create it. From Instagram pages dedicated to sharing and challenging AI artists with creative prompts to small online forums and Discord channels, there is a lively place on the internet for those that enjoy the computerized art form.

We’ll take a look back on some of the most influential AI art tools of 2022 and the artists that use them. But first, it’s important to know what AI art really is and how AI began its trek in the art world.

What is AI artwork?

Artificial intelligence is the field of science which works to build machines that mimic human intelligence through algorithms. And simply put, AI artwork is any artwork created through the use of AI. AI artists work with the AI’s algorithms to create rules for how the machine analyzes images—sometimes thousands of images—to understand a certain creative process, such as an aesthetic or an art movement. Then, the AI generates shapes, forms, patterns, and figures to create something based on what it has learned.

Many AI art generators are text-to-image, meaning the rules that artists create are written prompts. These prompts can be simple, such as “a starry night sky,” or they can be very descriptive, like “a starry night sky full of constellations in the fall in the style of Claude Monet.” Artists can use other descriptors such as “telephoto” or “hyperrealistic” to create different results. Typically, they can also cycle through several versions the AI has created, expand the image, change the resolution, or have the AI redo its processing with the same prompt. And while anyone can use these generators, it takes time and practice to understand what words to use and how to use them in order to get a piece you want.

Photo: Image created with DALL•E

When did AI art begin?

AI artwork has its roots dated all the way back to the early conceptions of AI back in the 1800s and the advent of AI in the late 1950s. However, the creative application of AI really became its own in the 2010s. With advancements in AI technology involving how AI machines learn new concepts, a Google researcher named Alexander Mordvintsev was able to create the DeepDream algorithm in 2015 to study the way these complex computer neural systems learn visual concepts. With that, the floodgates were opened. Accessibility grows and open-source databases are more plentiful by the minute—and the application of these AI advancements form more and more AI art generators every day.

Photo: Image created with DALL•E

Why is AI artwork controversial?

The possibilities of AI are seemingly endless, and the application of this technology onto art is no exception. AI art generators have the power to be useful tools to those looking to hone their ideas, visualize complex ideations, and see where their inspirations lie. These generators also can break down somewhat mystifying barriers for people who do not possess the physical tools or crafting knowledge—democratizing the processes of art and allowing everyone to create. It's these powers that make AI artwork so polarizing, because what exactly is being created?

Because many of these AI art generators are open-sourced, these different forms of AI are using artworks scrapped from the internet and often without permission or proper credit. This means that everyone from Picasso to small, independent contemporary artists are not exempt from AI's analyzations. As well, if someone adds your name to their written prompt, your style will be hyper-analyzed and recreated to make something entirely new. Greg Rutkowski, a digital artist whose work has been in games like Dungeons & Dragons, was a favorite choice for many on both Stable Diffusion and Midjourney, and the resemblance between his works and AI generated works in his name can be pretty uncanny. This raises major concerns of everything from copyright issues to data protection, especially since artists typically cannot opt out of having their work analyzed and used. And while Rutkowski doesn't blame people for using his name, he says, “But for me and many other artists, it’s starting to look like a threat to our careers.”

Tom Mason, chief technology officer of Stability.AI, Stable Diffusion's developer, says, “Open-source AI is a tremendous innovation, and we appreciate that there are open questions and differing legal opinions. We expect them to be resolved over time, as AI becomes more ubiquitous and different groups come to a consensus as to how to balance individual rights and essential AI/ML research.” Mason continues, “We strive to find the balance between innovating and helping the community.”

Photo: Image created with DALL•E

Key Moments in the Rise of AI Art

The Quick Adoption of Midjourney

 

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Formed by a small team made up of researchers and experts from companies like NASA, Avid Technology, and Apple, Midjourney uses its own AI and a text-to-image generator to create fantastical pieces. Its system is accessed entirely through Discord. All users need to do is sign up for Midjourney’s Discord, head over to the right channel, and start typing “/imagine” followed by a prompt to create art. With over 4 million users since its release in July 2022, Midjourney's rise to popularity is an exponential one.

Architecture student Qasim Iqbal utilizes Midjourney to help him visualize his grand, fantastical architectural designs. “With Midjourney primarily being a text-to-image generator, it encourages you to summarize and define ideas through words and teaches you to be specific,” he tells My Modern Met. Iqbal specifies though, “I believe as a tool it offers me a way to test concepts, ideas, and directions for projects, but I do not think that one should rely on the tool to generate ideas. It could add but it should never be the originator of the idea.”

Midjourney: Website | Twitter | Discord
Qasim Iqbal/Studio MQI: Instagram

DALL·E 2 Is Used to Create the Cover of Cosmopolitan

 

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OpenAI‘s popular first iteration of DALL·E, named after Salvador Dalí and Pixar robot WALL-E, was released in 2021. Its highly anticipated DALL·E 2 was finally released in September 2022, with wide range of improvements: more realistic and accurate images, resolution improved by 400%, and preventions set in place to stop harmful images from being created. DALL·E 2 is another text-to-image generator, with some incredible results.

I used @OpenAI #dalle2 to create the first ever AI-generated magazine cover for @Cosmopolitan!! The prompt I used is at the end of the video #dalle pic.twitter.com/sbM2qbTAbq

— Karen X. Cheng (@karenxcheng) June 27, 2022

In June 2022, a small group of Cosmopolitan editors, OpenAI researchers, and digital artist and director Karen X. Cheng worked together for less than an hour to test out different written prompts to get a cover just right for the magazine. This cover, released June 21, 2022, is the first magazine cover ever to be designed by AI.

OpenAI: Website | DALL·E 2 | Twitter
Karen X. Cheng: Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

AI Artwork Wins Art Competition

 

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Gaming company owner, Jason Allen, used Midjourney for 80 hours and pored over 900 images to create Théâtre D’opéra Spatial. Allen printed the piece on canvas and entered it into the Colorado State Fair's digital art category. After it won the blue ribbon in fall 2022, the news was posted online, which quickly sparked backlash. Artists felt slighted by the computer-generated piece taking the prize instead of non-AI works, and questions were raised as to if the judges were aware it was AI. Even though Allen says to have stated he used Midjourney to create the piece, at least one judge stated they did not know AI was used. This AI art win in a competition against non-AI works sparked fervent debates on whether Allen's hours of tweaking are equatable to physical creation of art.

NightCafe's Democratization of Art

 

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While AI artists awaited the return of DALL·E in the form of DALL·E 2, other AI art generators also became more popular. Enter Angus Russell's NightCafe Creator, launched in 2019 and named after Vincent Van Gogh's The Night Cafe. NightCafe Studio states, “we create tools that allow anyone—regardless of skill level—to experience the satisfaction, the therapy, the rush of creating incredible, unique art.” The team is dedicated to providing access to art creation to all, not to “make artists redundant.” Through online forums and their site's blog, NightCafe Studio teaches people the ins and outs of using AI art generators. In response to DALL·E's success, in February 2022, they interviewed artist zenElan for his secrets to creating fantastical works.

Previously a photographer, zenElan now creates otherworldly artworks using NightCafe Creator. He's inspired by the process of “discovery and re-discovery” that goes alongside AI art and tells novice AI artists, “If you want to go deeper recognize that you have an incredibly powerful tool in front of you.” As for zenElan's opinion about AI art's role in society, he's less sure. “I think we're all learning as we go and how it fits within a larger context,” he says. “It brings people back together by renewing that sense of wonder the internet had before social media, thought maintains the element of sharing and community.”

NightCafe Studio: Website | NightCafe Creator | Twitter | Reddit | Instagram
zenElan: NightCafe Creator Profile | Instagram | Twitter | ArtPal

MoMA Exhibit Features AI Art Installation

I’m deeply honored and excited to announce our exhibition — Unsupervised opening on the 19th of November at MoMA! It’s a dream of many artists to have the opportunity to imagine, practice and exhibit for such an important institution that supports the creativity of humanity! pic.twitter.com/OR25D7wrYJ

— Refik Anadol (@refikanadol) November 4, 2022

The Museum of Modern Art's Refik Anadol: Unsupervised uses AI—created by Anadol himself—that analyzes 380,000 images of 180,000 art pieces from MoMA's collection to create a continuous stream of moving images. MoMA describes the giant 24 feet by 24 feet piece as, “a singular and unprecedented meditation on technology, creativity, and modern art.” The installation seeks “to interpret and transform more than 200 years of art from MoMA’s collection.” Unlike Andol's first Unsupervised, posted to Feral File in 2021, his MoMA piece also responds to real-time environmental inputs, like light, sound, and movement. As the museum states, “The history of modern art will be transformed by the liveness of public space in the present.” Refik Anadol: Unsupervised will be showing from November 19, 2022 to March 5, 2023, and marks a historic moment for the museum and the exhibiting art world at large.

MoMA: Website | Instagram | Twitter
Refik Anadol: MoMA Installation | Website | Instagram | Twitter | Behance

AI Art Generators Pop Up All Over Social Media

 

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Some AI art generators—like NewProfilePic and the recently popular Lensa with its Magic Avatar feature—have allowed anyone to turn their selfies into highly stylized artworks that look like they belong in a museum or on a movie poster. This has been a fun intersection of art, photography, and social media for the public, but it has also led to the realization of a much larger problem. As a number of artists have spoken up, it has become more and more clear that artificial intelligence is learning and essentially stealing signature styles of artists around the world. The AI generators pull data from billions of images across the internet. So long as an artist uploads their work online, it can be “studied” and “learned” by AI and then mimicked.

Seeing plenty of thoughts online about the future of digital art in connection with AI generations, we decided to share some information on how AI generates images and why it will not replace digital artists. 🧵🧵🧵

— Prisma Labs (@PrismaAI) December 6, 2022

Lensa's parent company, Prisma, has quickly responded to growing concerns about AI taking jobs away from human artists. The company maintains that AI is not the end of art, but rather an evolution and extension of it. In a Twitter thread, Prisma writes, “As cinema didn't kill theater and accounting software hasn't eradicated the profession, AI won't replace artists but can become a great assisting tool.”

The AI learns to recognize the connections between the images and their descriptions, not the artworks. This way the model develops operational principles that can be applied to content generation. Hence the outputs can't be described as exact replicas of any particular artwork

— Prisma Labs (@PrismaAI) December 6, 2022

It takes at least 10 minutes for the machine to make approx. 120 million billion (yes, it's not a typo) mathematical operations every time, meaning we have a separate model for each user, not a one-size-fits-all monstrous neural network trained to reproduce any face.

— Prisma Labs (@PrismaAI) December 6, 2022

To sum up,AI produces unique images based on the principles derived from data, but it can't ideate and imagine things on its own. As cinema didn't kill theater and accounting software hasn't eradicated the profession, AI won't replace artists but can become a great assisting tool

— Prisma Labs (@PrismaAI) December 6, 2022

We also believe that the growing accessibility of AI-powered tools would only make man-made art in its creative excellence more valued and appreciated, since any industrialization brings more value to handcrafted works.

— Prisma Labs (@PrismaAI) December 6, 2022

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READ: Art Trend of 2022: How AI Art Emerged and Polarized the Art World

 

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A post shared by Prisma (@prisma)

If you’ve been on social media the past couple of weeks, you've likely noticed people sharing vibrant self-portraits that look like works of art. But there’s no artist behind these stylized images; it’s the work of Lensa, an AI-powered photo editing app that has recently dominated the Apple App Store by being the top-downloaded (free) app.

So, what does Lensa do, exactly? Once you’ve downloaded the app in either the App Store or Google Play, you can use tools like removing objects from photos as well as Face Retouch and Magic Correction to ”perfect the facial imperfections.” That won’t, however, get you the artsy portraits that have taken over the internet. It's a separate feature called Magic Avatar that only premiered in late November (Lensa has been around since 2018). Using it requires you to upload 10 to 20 photos of yourself and pay $3.99. Doing so will generate 50 images that imagine you in a range of styles, from sci-fi costumes to Pop Art portraits and more.

As with other AI art generators, Lensa, and its parent company Prisma, is not without controversy. Folks are questioning how Prisma uses the uploaded images. The company maintains that the photos help to train its AI, and it does not retain the pictures once the face has been converted to data.

Artists are also speaking out against the Magic Avatar feature. Stable Diffusion is the AI image generator on which Lensa is run, and it is trained on 2.3 billion caption images from across the internet. That is a massive amount of data and includes copyrighted works from Pinterest, Smugmug, Flickr, DeviantArt, and Art Station as well as stock image sites. Artists cannot opt in or opt out of having their artwork included in this image collection which means that their distinctive style can be mimicked and recreated by AI in mere seconds. By sharing their work online, it’s viewed as helping AI train them out of a job.

Voice actor Jenny Yokobori wrote a tweet thread reflecting on how AI generator tools like Lensa affect artists. “Looking at the results [of Magic Avatar] made me feel really sad,” she wrote, “because I could see that the images were born from the thousands and thousands of hours of practice of real artists.”

If you've recently seen artsy self-portraits appear in your Instagram feed, it might be the work of Lensa, an AI-powered photo editing app.

 

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A post shared by Lensa: Photo Editor by Prisma Labs (@lensa.ai)

Lensa has dominated the Apple App Store by being the top-downloaded (free) app.

 

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A post shared by Lensa: Photo Editor by Prisma Labs (@lensa.ai)

Upload 10 to 20 images of yourself and use the Magic Avatar feature. It will imagine you in a range of styles, from sci-fi costumes to Pop Art portraits and more.

 

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A post shared by Lensa: Photo Editor by Prisma Labs (@lensa.ai)

For $3.99, you can generate 50 images.

 

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A post shared by Lensa: Photo Editor by Prisma Labs (@lensa.ai)

 

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A post shared by Prisma (@prisma)

Some celebrities have also used the AI selfie generator.

Conan O'Brien

 

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Taraji P. Henson

 

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A post shared by taraji p henson (@tarajiphenson)

Michaela Jaé

 

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A post shared by Michaela Jaé (@mjrodriguez7)

Chance the Rapper

 

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Anna Camp

 

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A post shared by ⚡️Anna Camp⚡️ (@therealannacamp)

Lilly Singh

 

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A post shared by Lilly Singh (@lilly)

Magic Avatar, however, is not without controversy—namely that the AI it uses collects images across the internet without artists' consent and then is trained to mimic their art in mere seconds.

Hey everyone!

I know a lot of people have been posting their Lensa/other AI portraits lately. I would like to encourage you not to do so or, better yet, not to use the service. These AI seem like harmless fun but they are predatory and intend to replace artists. (1/9)

— Jenny Yokobori (@JennyYokobori) December 3, 2022

I see the appeal, it’s cheap and fast and seems harmless. But, these AI are actively hurting real artists who have actually worked to be as good as they are. Real art shouldn’t be cheap or fast because art is born from passion and dedication. (3/9)

— Jenny Yokobori (@JennyYokobori) December 3, 2022

There are countless artists out there who are just trying to make ends meet and deserve to feel valued. Please don’t forget about the humans behind all the beautiful art we see daily on this bird app. (5/9)

— Jenny Yokobori (@JennyYokobori) December 3, 2022

These AI aren’t harmless. They are predatory and their art will always fall short of something drawn by someone who has dedicated themselves to honing their craft. Artists are not replaceable and this new wave of automated art is really troubling. (7/9)

— Jenny Yokobori (@JennyYokobori) December 3, 2022

That being said, I fully intend to commission real artists and to showcase the portraits I get from them. Real artists can never be replaced. I want to apologize and take accountability for my lapse in judgment. Support real artists. (9/9)

— Jenny Yokobori (@JennyYokobori) December 3, 2022

Lensa: Website | Instagram
h/t: [TechCrunch]

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READ: People Are Transforming Themselves Into Vibrant Artwork With Lensa, an AI-Powered Photo App