These risks cannot be ignored, depth: photos of the back of the popular Miaoyang camera | users | depth
Upload more than 20 photos, pay 9.9 yuan, choose your favorite template, and you can generate your own "digital avatar" with fake and fake effects, comparable to art photos priced at tens or even hundreds of yuan in the market. Recently, a small program called "Miaoya Camera" has spread on the Internet. During peak usage, users may have to wait for several hours or even more to receive their own works.
The popularity of Kemiao Duck is also accompanied by controversy: some netizens question information security - is it safe to upload so many personal photos? Some media and consumer protection organizations have also questioned Miaoya's user terms, as they include content such as ownership of the generated "digital avatar" belonging to the enterprise and no refund after recharging. Although Miaoya made timely modifications, some netizens still ask, can the company's personal information protection promise really be fulfilled?
A survey conducted by the Shanghai debunking platform found that Miao Ya is an application of generative artificial intelligence technology. With its popularity, it has become increasingly important to prevent technological and information security risks.
Will digital avatars fight back against real avatars?
Consumers have different opinions on whether the Miao duck is good or not.
"I think it's very good. Although it's a style template, it's more like me. If I don't tell others, I would think I've taken a new art photo." Ms. Chen, who has spent several times at a popular ID photo shooting agency, thinks that the imaging effect of Miaoya has surpassed some institutions. "Those institutions are also templates, and the background and makeup are uniform. The price is at least a few tens of yuan per shot, only a few photos, and it's not entirely satisfactory." For example, she has a round face, but it has been repaired into a pointed face by the agency's retouching engineer's assembly line operation; She has a long neck and is not suitable for V-neck clothing, but in some style photos, she can only choose a V-neck.
However, the premise of uploading 20 photos at once to generate a "digital avatar" discouraged Ms. Meng, who works in technology. "I looked at my colleagues' finished products and found that the final result is closely related to the quality of the uploaded photos - the clearer and more positive the uploaded photos are, the more realistic the final product is. However, is it safe for me to hand over my own photos to such a small program? Will the company handle the photos I upload and the generated images properly?" She also conducted an experiment: using the images generated by Miao Duck can successfully deceive those applications that use image comparison for facial recognition. "If someone uses my" digital avatar "to engage in illegal behavior, I can be exempted from responsibility." Is it? "
Introduction to the Miao Duck Mini Program
The reporter's investigation found that the principle of Miaoyang is based on AIGC technology, which captures key information points such as facial features when users upload photos, and integrates them with the style template of the mini program to generate different styles of "digital avatars". But currently, Miaoya has not launched any application scenarios such as virtual space, so the resulting "digital avatar" is only in the form of images, more like a digital portrait.
This is not a creative new application. Many netizens still use similar products such as Meitu Xiuxiu's "AI avatar", previously popular "Xiaokaxiu", "Cute Face", and "Footprint". However, based on AIGC technology, the digital portraits generated by Miao Ya may have slightly better human similarity, fine detail, and image quality than previous products, which has attracted attention.
But as users, media, and consumer protection organizations discover issues with Miaoya's user terms and privacy policies, more people are paying attention to the topics of data security and information security in new applications. Although Miaoya has updated its user terms and privacy policy, consumers still have concerns: can the company promise not to disclose user privacy?
"The focus on Miaoya data security is not only on one enterprise, but also reflects the new regulatory challenges of the data age." A frontline law enforcement officer pointed out that according to relevant regulations, enterprises should inform users of the scope of information use and storage before collecting user information, and these contents must be reflected in the "User Terms" or "Privacy Policy" to obtain user confirmation. But the above content is a unilateral commitment of the enterprise, and for consumers, there is a lack of supervision tools. "For example, if the enterprise says it has destroyed used user information, how can it be proven? For example, existing photography institutions will also retain digital photos of users. Isn't there no risk?"
The person believes that the key to solving these problems is twofold: firstly, to urge enterprises to implement privacy policies in accordance with the law and protect personal information; The second is to increase technological supervision and use technological strength to protect consumers.
"We support innovative enterprises, including Miao Ya Camera, in exploring and exploring new consumption models and scenarios. We also hope that Unordered Network Technology Company can continuously improve and perfect product functions in future business activities, and enhance user service quality." The view of the Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission can represent the attitude of industry insiders towards new things such as Miao Ya: We welcome new products such as Miao Ya in the AIGC era, but when providing products and services, consumer rights should be given priority and convincing measures should be provided.
"Li Kui" is not yet perfect, and "Li Gui" is about to stir up
It is worth mentioning that in terms of preventing the risks of new applications, consumers also need to be careful of the risks in "riding on hot topics".
Taking the Miaoya camera as an example, the product under discussion in the market is operated by the Unordered Network Technology Company and currently only provides services through WeChat mini programs. However, in the Apple App Store and Android app market, searching for keywords such as "Miao Ya" and "Miao Ya Camera" reveals many applications that are completely unrelated to Miao Ya and its developers. Some of the product names and logos are very similar to Miao Ya. That is to say, the newly unveiled Miao Duck has already encountered the "Li Ghost".
Looking at these types of application software, most of them also focus on AI drawing and AI avatar generation. Developers include both companies and individuals, making it difficult to rely on a short software introduction to determine their credibility. The reporter tried these software and found that they also need to upload a large number of photos.
Searching for "Miaoyang Camera" in the Apple app market, many software similar to Miaoyang's name or logo appear, but they are all unrelated to Miaoyang
So, is the security of these application software guaranteed? Without relying on technological means and regulatory forces, it is impossible to confirm.
It can be seen that new products and services in the AI era are accompanied by new risks. Consumers must pay attention to protecting their personal information when trying fresh food:
Firstly, it is necessary to check the developer and user reviews of the application software, and carefully select products with unknown origins or low user reviews.
Secondly, carefully read the user terms, privacy terms, etc. of the product, reject products that clearly have "domineering terms", and avoid giving away personal information and privacy.
Finally, it is essential to download software through legitimate application software markets.
From the actual test conducted by reporters, it can be seen that there is still a situation of uneven quality of application software in the current legitimate application software market, not to mention the security risks of providing software through informal download channels. In previous disclosed cases of online fraud, many fraudulent software came from informal channels. If the public is misled by fraudsters or induced by so-called "special effects" or "free services" to bypass the legitimate application software market for downloading, then the risk of personal privacy leakage is greater, and it cannot be ruled out that criminals directly steal personal information through illegal software.
Is it to eliminate industries or service industries?
In addition to technology security and information security, the classic question of whether AI will eliminate certain enterprises is also included in the topic sparked by Miao Ya. Many netizens believe that after the birth of Miao Ya, the ID photo shooting institutions for assembly line operations will be replaced.
"It has indeed brought a considerable impact to the entire industry, but it has also given greater opportunities for 'manual service', which will give better creativity and texture. When the reporter contacted Sun Anqi, the former manager of the Parent Child Children's Photography Aesthetics Museum, she was communicating with photographers and makeup artists about the latest shooting style. 'Production line shooting works will be replaced, but original products will not.'"
She also studied Miao Ya and found that there is still a gap between the current products and manual services. "Firstly, there are distortion issues reported by consumers, such as the inability to generate photos of wearing glasses or details that are incorrect, resulting in 'not like me'. Secondly, there is an inability to generate photos of multiple people, and there is a high market demand for parent-child photography and family photography."
Sun Anqi admits that with the development of technology, these issues are likely to be overcome by development companies, but "emotional communication" cannot be achieved in the short term through technology. "Our store has a five-star rating on Dianping website, one of the reasons why many people feel that the entire shooting process is enjoyable, because photographers, guides, and others guide the interaction of photographers. The camera captures emotional expressions between parents, children, and friends, which technology cannot generate."
But Sun Anqi also said that "human services" and "AI services" are not an either or relationship. "We do not reject AI, on the contrary, we have started to use AI to design the background of products. Similarly, AIGC can also be used in the industry, but what 'people' need to do is to magnify the part of artificial emotions, so that photos can record the best expression of truth."
In the eyes of industry insiders, the emergence of AIGC applications such as Miaoya and ChatGPT has sparked discussions about whether they will replace certain industries, but the mainstream conclusion is "no". This is related not only to the current development status of AIGC technology, but also to the integration of AI itself with the industry. "In the future, all enterprises will strongly rely on the big model, and all products will be developed based on the big model, which is already a consensus." Shen Shuan, president of Baidu AI Cloud Business Group, said, "AI's ultimate ideal is to bring more freedom and possibility to mankind."
