finally, an ai avatar generator that delivers

I normally don’t take part in internet trends, especially ones that ask you to take a selfie and upload it to the internet. My conspiracy theory hackles go on alert. They want you to upload your selfies so that THEY can build a facial recognition database that THEY can use to imprison you in a prison with no walls, no doors, or bars.

But this one I couldn’t resist. I couldn’t resist because I’ve been looking for an AI app that can turn my photo into a realistic comic representation of me. There are plenty of them out there, but I have yet to find one that makes an accurate representation of me. Most of them are junk, at least when it comes to rendering me; the only one I’ve found so far that does a half-decent job is Pop Dot.

Then Lensa found its way into my feed through an influencer I follow on Instagram.

I thought, “Holy cow, that’s good.” I immediately scanned through the comments to see what app she used. I couldn’t resist. Could this be the one app that did what it said it would do and turned me into a stunning photo-realistic comic?

Despite the £4 price tag to get a set of 50 images without any proof of quality, I went for it.

I uploaded 20 selfies. The company does state that it will delete your uploaded selfies from its database once it renders your images. It doesn’t say that it will delete the images it makes of you!

In which folks paid an AI art company money to GIVE them rights to their likeness. #lensa pic.twitter.com/1qFvDJkbJS

— Joe Starr (@joestarr187) December 5, 2022

Curiosity overruled caution. I had to know if Lensa could deliver.

Tech note: Lensa uses the Stable Diffusion‘s generative AI model to make the images.

OK so here we go…

For a one-time, you get a set of 50 images broken down into several categories. I picked the ones I liked the best (looked the most like me).

Mystical

Sci-fi

Stylish

Cyborg

Anime

Rockstar

Superhero

Adventure

Astronaut

Cosmic

I’m pretty impressed with the results. I know some people have complained that some of the images the AI produces of women are misogynistic. And one asian lady, said the AI doesn’t represent asians well. And a lady who is proud of her size, said the AI slimmed her down without giving her the option to retain her body type.

You can download the Lensa app for iOS and Android. There is no free option. You either have to take out a subscription or pay a one-time for to get a set number of images. The cheapest option is just over $4 dollars and produces 50 images.

What do you think? Did the AI do a good job of replicating me?