The Price of Your AI-Generated Selfie

The recent flooding of social media feeds with AI-generated "portraits" derived from databases of artists' work has renewed conversation over data ownership and the potential power AI has to supplant livelihoods in the future. The 22 million individuals and counting who have already handed over their images to the Lensa application might be fine to receive the myriad of AI-illustrated images in exchange for their data. But the fundamental rights, principles, and freedoms users are giving up during this exchange remains largely unchecked. In Web3 technology circles, much promises have been made of decentralized technologies to open up the possibility for individual ownership and monetization of data, returning power to "creators." This reflects the political ethos held by Blockchain proponents like Etherum co-founder Joe Lubin, who ostensibly seek to supplant the existing power structures of finance through "permissionless" consensus-based transaction data structures.