What's Truly Disturbing About Those Sci-Fi Avatars That Are Suddenly Everywhere

Over the past week, many of our Instagram and Twitter feeds have been filled with avatars of our friends looking like heroes in a cyberpunk thriller. With their Day-Glo pink hair, shimmery skin, and Mad Max–meets–Ren Faire corsets, many of these profile pics looked so good that it was tempting to download the Lensa app and splurge on 100 A.I.-generated portraits of one's own. But by the time TMZ built its slideshow of the best celebrity Lensa looks, the tide had turned. Yes, the app, which continues to top Apple's free apps chart (users are prompted within Lensa to pay for the avatars), was succeeding in making hot people hotter and helping the selfie-averse find their superhero inside them. But there was also the matter of theft.