Do you know the classic school yearbooks, essential in American teen TV series of the 90s? Well this is what is becoming popular on social media, with a new photographic trend thanks to the app Epicwhich uses artificial intelligence (AI) to (re)create 90s-style photos.
How Epik works: AI app recreates yearbooks from the ’90s
Epik is essentially a photo editing app, which is becoming popular thanks to the function Yearbook. Essentially the app requires the user to upload selfies (up to 12). The artificial intelligence scans the person’s face and, thanks to its algorithms, recreates the different typical elements of the 90s (hairstyles, clothes, poses and backgrounds).
Below you will find some examples.
Although downloading the application is free, accessing the Yearbook functionality requires a subscription (from 5.99 to 9.99 dollars, depending on the settings chosen. The user can in fact choose whether to pay for the plan base or that express. In the first case the photo will be created in a maximum of 24 hours, while with express delivery you will receive the shot within a maximum of 2 hours.
The concerns and controversies
However, not everyone is enthusiastic about this new social trend. Numerous users complain about the poor results of the app, with photos that are unrealistic or do not resemble real users. Then there are those who express concern about the reckless use of AI.
In a post on Twitter/X, the writer Francesca Ramsey urged people to stop sending their photos to the app, because selfies could be used to train artificial intelligence programs in the future.
People paying to train AI w their pics is…bad. there are serious legal & ethical concerns. AI plagiarizes from artists & is actively putting ppl out of work.
folks are passing around fake images to deceive ppl & the tech is getting better bc of your high school pic trend https://t.co/1cFNvQ8wPM
— Franchesca Ramsey (@chescaleigh) October 4, 2023
“People paying to train AI with their photos is…bad.”