Apple removes AI face-changing app amid privacy concerns

Avatarify, an AI face animator app that has gone viral in TikTok videos, has been removed from Apple's China app store, and analysts said the move was mainly due to concerns about invasion of privacy. "The potential risk of invasion of privacy is the major reason behind the removal of AI apps like Avatarify," said Qin An, head of the Beijing-based Institute of China Cyberspace Strategy, on Monday. Unscrupulous individuals or groups might make money from these apps by using them to attract the public's attention first and then violating personal privacy, according to Qin. Qin's comments came after Avatarify - a face-changing app adopting artificial intelligence (AI) to allow users to replace their own faces with other people's faces for photography and videos - was removed from Apple's China app store. The app started trending on February 17 and ranked first on February 28 with more than 1.5 million downloads, according to a report by thepaper.cn. Chinese netizens have used the app to make funny videos, which went viral and started trending on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.