CINCINNATI — You may have seen some different images filling your social media feed recently, selfies rendered as highly stylized portraits.

They are made from one of the most popular apps around right now, Lensa, which uses artificial intelligence to turn your selfies into works of art for just a few dollars.

What You Need To Know

• Lensa AI art app is gaining a lot of attention lately


• A new feature on the paid app is transforming selfies into AI portraits


• ​Some artists claim that their artwork was stolen to help create the portraits


• Prisma Labs claims that AI learns to recognize connections between images and descriptions, so the images can't be described as exact replicas of anyone’s artwork

Along with the growing popularity of these avatars, there’s been heavy criticism from human artists who say the technology is stealing their work.

In July, we introduced you to Michael Coppage, the Black Box artist with Blink. Since then, he’s been working on several national and Cincinnati-area projects. He recently wrapped up a solo show at Cincinnati’s Weston Art Gallery. 

“We broke every record they’ve had for the past 28 years,” said Coppage. “The show was attended by over 6,000 people and for Cincinnati for an art exhibition that’s kind of major.”

Like other artists, Coppage puts a lot of time, effort and pride into his work. And that’s why it’s so important for him to protect it. 

“Right now, I’m working on a collage which this style could easily be co-opted by something like Lensa,” he said. “But if you look at the piece behind me, which is a textile piece, an AI isn’t going to be able to replicate that.”

So what’s Lensa? It’s a paid artificial intelligence app that turns selfies into computer-generated portraits. It’s currently the No. 1 rated photo app on the iOS and Google app stores.

“An app like Lensa exists for people who don’t have a budget for art, who don’t have an education in art, who don’t attribute the same kind of value to art as your art collector would,” he said. 

But there’s controversy surrounding the app because some artists claim their work was stolen to create the portraits and the images are sold at a low price. 

In a tweet thread Prisma Labs, which owns Lensa, shared that AI learns to recognize connections between images and descriptions, so the images can't be described as exact replicas of anyone’s artwork. 

“I think that there is truth to the fact that artists should be credited and they should be paid if their images of their work has been fed to this AI,” Coppage said. 

As an artist himself, Coppage said he refuses to use the app. Instead he’ll reach out to an artist if he wants artwork like that.

“I’m not really a consumer in the sense that I would go and search for an app that would help me find some art,” he said. “I know enough artists, I know enough creatives to really find the work that I might be interested in.”