Don’t Believe The Terminator Movies, Artificial Intelligence’s First Strike Against Humanity Is By Flattery, Not Force.

You’re Not As Attractive As Lensa’s Magic Avatars Suggests. And Why That’s a Problem.

Digital Plastic Surgery. Or maybe AR Beer Goggles. That’s what everyone’s Lensa Magic Avatars look like to me. If you’re VERY ONLINE™️ then you’ve certainly noticed these in your friends’ social feeds, passed them around by group chat, or perhaps even created your own. It’s the latest version of enhanced selfies, a Magic Mirror for Modern Times.

Now I haven’t made THIRST TRAP HUNTER yet (not out of privacy concerns about where my photos end up or unwillingness to pay — I just don’t have enough number of selfies on my phone they require), but I’ve seen a lot of yours. And sorry, you’re not that hot.

Why does this matter? Well, we’re kinda training AI to deceive us. A positive feedback loop where the phony best version of ourselves is what gets ‘rewarded’ in the Darwinian competition among Lensa’s training sandbox. And if over time, the biggest data set wins, what are the implications if the most explosively viral image models start with, essentially, ‘do you like this’ vs ‘is this true?’