Zao app has gone viral in China and lets users create deep-fake images of themselves. But its privacy policy is not so great.Zao, a deep fake app that can super impose a user’s face onto a celebrity video, has gone viral in China and reached the number one spot in the country’s iOS store. But the viral app has also raised questions around user privacy given the app’s terms and conditions. Zao is owned by a Chinese live-streaming service Momo Inc.
The app lets users upload a photo of themselves and their likeness is then added to a popular scene from any movie or TV shows. Zao is using deep-fake artificial intelligence technology to do this. It can also let users add elaborate makeup, hairstyles to their face. It offers a way to alter the user’s image drastically using deep fake technology.
But the user agreement from Zao appears to imply that those who upload photos are surrendering their intellectual property rights to their face. The terms and conditions add that Zao can use the photos for marketing, pointed out Reuters. It looks like after the backlash Zao has updated its terms of service.
Developer Allan Xia had posted a tweet showing how his face replaced Leonardo Di Caprio in several iconic scenes. The deep-fake images were generated in under eight seconds from one photo. Users can choose from a number of videos, which feature celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Marilyn Monroe, and then superimpose their face. The edited video can be shared with friends as well.
Zao taps in on the obsession around editing face features, which has only been heightened by the spread of social media across the world. This is also explains why the app has gone viral in China. According to App Annie, Zao was the most downloaded free app on the store in just two days of being released on iOS . But privacy concerns around the app are real considering the privacy policy allows for the photos to be used for marketing purposes by the company.
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In case you haven’t heard, #ZAO is a Chinese app which completely blew up since Friday. Best application of ‘Deepfake’-style AI facial replacement I’ve ever seen.
Here’s an example of me as DiCaprio (generated in under 8 secs from that one photo in the thumbnail) 🤯 pic.twitter.com/1RpnJJ3wgT
— Allan Xia (@AllanXia) September 1, 2019
“We thoroughly understand the anxiety people have toward privacy concerns,” the company said according to Reuters. “We have received the questions you have sent us. We will correct the areas we have not considered and require some time.”
Zao is not the only viral app to have caused a privacy worry. Recently, the Face App had gone viral thanks to its ‘old age’ filter, but the app’s privacy policy was problematic. Face App also lets users upload their photo and then apply very realistic filters, which are using AI models and techniques.
One filter would create an older version of the user’s face. Except the privacy policy for Face App also said that the company could use the images for marketing and promotional purposes similar to what Zao is doing.
Read more: FaceApp’s ‘old age’ filter goes viral, but company’s privacy policy sparks scare
With deep fake technologies, companies and developers can create apps that allow for more realistic and sophisticated fakes, and not the crude Photoshop-based fake images or videos that are widely available on the internet.
Deep Fake technology relies on tools afforded by artificial intelligence and machine learning to accurately imitate or fake someone’s voice, face, body language and even mannerisms. These can be added to an existing image or video or audio and thus make it hard to distinguish real from fake.
