If you’ve been on social media lately, it’s likely you’ve seen larger-than-life depictions of your friends. They might have been sucked into the latest social media trend: creating AI-generated caricatures. The trend itself is simple. Users input a common prompt — “Create a caricature of me and my job based on everything you know about me.” They then upload a photo of themselves and voilà! ChatGPT spits out an over-the-top cartoon-style image that includes features from their job, their favorite activities, and anything else it has learned about them. It seems like harmless fun, but cyber security experts warn that this trend may not be as harmless as it seems. They say handing over personal information and photos to AI platforms could put your privacy at risk. Typing in general information like your hobbies and your job title is largely harmless but experts say the risk increases when you upload photos of yourself or your family, because once that information is uploaded, you lose control of it. As AI technology becomes more advanced, protecting personal data becomes more difficult, so before you follow the next viral trend, it’s worth asking whether the result is worth the risk.
