Centuries ago, in the dark corners of Eastern Europe, a legend began to stir. Whispers floated through the air, telling the tale of a cursed creature, a vampire of immense size and power, known as the "Bighte Vampire". This monstrous entity was said to possess supernatural strength, the ability to control lesser vampires, and an insatiable thirst for human blood. According to the legend, the Bighte Vampire was once a nobleman who fell victim to a terrible curse. As the story goes, he made a pact with dark forces in exchange for eternal life and power. However, the bargain came at a heavy price – the nobleman was transformed into a colossal vampire, forever doomed to roam the night with an unquenchable hunger.
However, the bargain came at a heavy price – the nobleman was transformed into a colossal vampire, forever doomed to roam the night with an unquenchable hunger. As the years rolled on, the curse of the Bighte Vampire spread fear and chaos throughout the land. Villages lived in constant terror, with their inhabitants disappearing under mysterious circumstances.
I Uploaded Photos of Myself to the New Lensa A.I. Portrait Generator. The Results Were Stunning, Strange… and Super Creepy
My friend surprised me with a set of 100 A.I.-generated Lensa portraits. Here's what the app delivered.
This Lensa Magic Avatar of Artnet News senior writer Sarah Cascone in the "Fairy Princess" style captures an uncanny facial likeness, but contains a third arm, lending the image an uncanny alien goddess vibe. Image courtesy of Lensa.
Like everyone, I’d been seeing the images on social media: A.I.-generated portraits that had turned your photographs into glamorous, fanciful, and vaguely airbrushed likenesses. I had no intention of using Lensa—but then my husband called my name excitedly across the apartment, asking me to check out the 100 artworks the app had just created based on 20 images of my face.
Neither my husband, Nathan, nor I had downloaded the Lensa photo editing app, but a friend had a trial period 50 percent discount on image packs, which normally cost $12 for 100. He had offered to run our faces through the app, and, without consulting me, Nathan eagerly sent over our photos. (H/T Vinh Trinh.)
There was no chance for me to weigh the moral implications of using the app—was the A.I. ripping off hardworking artists and potentially even putting them out of a job?—or the possibility that I’d be turning over my likeness to some kind of sinister advertising project.
Instead, I was already scrolling through what the app calls Magic Avatars, marveling at what Lensa had come with in a mere 20 minutes.
This Lensa Magic Avatar of Artnet News senior writer Sarah Cascone in what appears to be the “Pop” style compared to a dress she really owns—but was not wearing in any of the images used to train the app’s Stable Diffusion A.I. model. Image courtesy of Lensa, photo by Sarah Cascone.
There were 10 results each in 10 different styles. For women, the app gives options in the themes of fantasy, fairy princess, focus, pop, stylish, anime, light, kawaii, iridescent, and cosmic, while men get mystical, sci-fi, stylish, cyborg, anime, rock star, superhero, adventure, astronaut, and cosmic.
While I’m not 100 percent sure which portraits matched each style, the results were, to put it mildly, a mixed bag. Some were downright remarkable likenesses—and there were even a couple that Nathan and I swore had recreated actual outfits we own but hadn’t been wearing in the photographs we provided. With others, it would have been a stretch to say we shared even the barest resemblance.
Regardless of whether or not the Magic Avatars looked like me, many were quite beautiful.
This Lensa Magic Avatar of Artnet News senior writer Sarah Cascone in what appears to be the “Pop” style is vaguely reminiscent of the work of Alex Katz. Image courtesy of Lensa.
The cosmic ones, if I am identifying the themes correctly, had a bit of a space-age Art Nouveau vibe, with ornate ornamental costumes and backgrounds that vaguely recalled Alphonse Mucha. One, possibly one of the pop avatars, even looked a bit like an Alex Katz. (I am not sure if the resolution is high enough for it to work, but I’m tempted to print it on canvas!)
Others had bizarre glitches, with distorted bodies and faces—one even had a creepy second set of eyes beneath the collarbone. And even the good ones often had extra fingers or limbs, or other strange mistakes.
My favorite, which I used as the featured image for this story, features the spitting image of my face wearing a flower crown, but with three arms. I look like an alien fairy goddess conducting some sort of Midsommar ritual with a mysterious talisman, and I love it.
A Lensa Magic Avatar of Artnet News senior writer Sarah Cascone with an extra set of eyes, and other distorted faces. Image courtesy of Lensa.
Originally released in 2018 by Prisma Labs, Lensa owes its newfound popularity entirely to its new Magic Avatars feature. It runs on the free, open source image generator Stable Diffusion, using specific prompts to create each style of portrait.
The app trains the neural network anew on each user’s individual images, a process that involves an immense amount of computational power, conducting roughly 120 million billion mathematical operations every time.
Lensa promises that your photos and the model generated with them are permanently deleted from its servers after avatar delivery. (The Magic Avatar files for each user clock in at 4Gb, storage space which would add up quickly given the app’s current popularity!)
Some of the best Lensa Magic Avatars of Artnet News senior writer Sarah Cascone. By row, these appear to be the pop, iridescent, cosmic, and stylish themes. Images courtesy of Lensa.
There have also been some complaints, however, that Lensa is misogynistic, spitting out sexualized female portraits that are all-too-often scantily clad and well-endowed. There’s a reason for that.
The Stable Diffusion model was trained LAION 5B, a dataset of 5.85 billion image/data pairs, and the images it produces therefore reflect the societal biases present in its training material.
I will confirm that there was a fair amount of cleavage in my generated images, some bare shoulders suggesting out-of-frame nudity, and even one full-fledged topless shot with a robotic flair which I, uh, will not be showing you. (I already get the occasional creepy Instagram DM when I post a photo from a day on the beach, thank you very much!)
Lensa Magic Avatars of Artnet News senior writer Sarah Cascone with bare shoulders. Images courtesy of Lensa.
Prisma told Tech Crunch that it is working to create filters that will prevent the creation of nude Magic Avatars.
Other users have questioned the A.I.’s ability to accurately render non-white subjects. I was surprised to find that several of my avatars looked distinctly Asian, especially, if perhaps unsurprisingly, in the kawaii, cyborg, and anime themes.
Lensa Magic Avatars of Artnet News senior writer Sarah Cascone, from what appear to be the kawaii, cosmic, fantasy, and cyborg themes. Images courtesy of Lensa.
Lensa has also addressed concerns that some avatars contain what appear to be artists’ signatures, stating in its FAQ that Stable Diffusion is merely attempting to create images that look like paintings, and that it learned through trainings that paintings often have signatures.
What appears in a Magic Avatar, therefore, isn’t the remains of a signature from a real artist’s work, but fake letters that mimic one.
Some of the best Lensa Magic Avatars of Artnet News senior writer Sarah Cascone, from what appear to be the fairy princess and anime themes. Images courtesy of Lensa.
In the end, I ended up running two different sets of photographs through Lensa—the ones Nathan threw together, and a carefully curated set I compiled being sure to provide a variety of different angles of my face. The former actually had more accurate results, perhaps because most of the images were more tightly cropped to my face.
In my first glance at my Lensa results, I really did feel like I was staring at a (highly stylized) reflection with some of the images.
But now, the more I look through them, my sense of self is becoming less certain. Is that actually my mouth? Do my eyes really look like that? I feel as though I’m starting to doubt my ability to recognize my own face—a reminder that A.I. art remains strange new frontier, even as it grows more omnipresent.
“I want nothing more than to fully love this app because it honestly is one of the best free photos editing apps in the App Store. But there is ONE major flaw that I just can’t stand and is a constant source of annoyance for myself and I’m sure many others….To whom it may concern in application development,Why in the world are users only allowed to replace or edit the background in only the pictures that the “face detecting” technology actually detects a face…? This feature only accurately works 60% of the time (and that is being generous) & it doesn’t really make sense that users can’t change or replace the background in pictures that don’t have a person in close proximity front and center facing the camera. I have active Poshmark, Mercari & EBay Sellers accounts & it would be a blessing to be able to use the superior background replacement & alteration ability featured in this app on my merchandise photos instead of having to constantly set up new and aesthetically pleasing backgrounds every other photoshoot.
The mythical creature would descend upon unsuspecting victims, tearing through their flesh with its razor-sharp fangs and mercilessly draining their life force. Many brave attempts were made to eradicate this abomination, but all ended in failure. The Bighte Vampire seemed invincible, resistant to conventional weapons and blessed with the ability to regenerate its wounds. At nightfall, its monstrous form would emerge from the darkness, haunting the dreams of the living and perpetuating the curse that plagued the land. Superstition and folklore developed as desperate villagers sought ways to protect themselves from the menacing presence of the Bighte Vampire. Garlic, crucifixes, and holy water were believed to ward off the evil, and people would hastily gather such items to create a barrier against the creature's advances. However, few could escape the relentless pursuit of this immortal beast. Only the most dedicated and fearless vampire hunters dared to confront the Bighte Vampire. Armed with knowledge passed down from generation to generation, these intrepid souls ventured into the vampire's lair, wielding ancient artifacts and utilizing forbidden rituals. Yet, even their efforts proved futile, as the creature's size and strength overwhelmed any resistance. Today, the legend of the Bighte Vampire lives on, whispered among those who still believe in the dark world of vampires and the supernatural. Its legacy serves as a reminder of the dangers that lurk in the shadows, a cautionary tale of the consequences that can arise from making deals with the devil. As the sun sets and darkness descends, those who hear the whispers breathe a sigh of relief, grateful that the curse of the Bighte Vampire remains confined to the realm of folklore. Yet, deep down, a lingering fear remains, for legends have a way of coming to life when least expected..
Reviews for "Chasing Shadows: Hunting the Bighgte Vampire Curse"
1. Sarah - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with "The Curse of the Biggest Vampire." The plot felt predictable and lacked originality. The characters were flat and uninteresting, making it difficult for me to feel invested in the story. The writing style itself was also underwhelming, with repetitive phrases and a lack of descriptive language. Overall, I found this book to be dull and lacking the excitement and depth I was expecting from a vampire novel.
2. John - 1 star - I wish I could give "The Curse of the Biggest Vampire" zero stars. This book was an absolute chore to read. The pacing was all over the place, with slow and drawn-out sections followed by rushed and confusing moments. The dialogue was cringe-worthy and felt forced, making it hard to believe in the characters' emotions and motivations. Additionally, the plot was so convoluted and filled with unnecessary subplots that it became difficult to follow and ultimately lost my interest. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
3. Amanda - 2 stars - "The Curse of the Biggest Vampire" fell flat for me. The main character was supposed to be this fierce, powerful vampire, but instead, I found her to be whiny and indecisive. The love triangle subplot was cliché and added nothing to the overall story. Additionally, the world-building felt weak and underdeveloped, leaving me with more questions than answers. The writing itself was also lackluster, lacking the vivid descriptions and immersive atmosphere I look for in a vampire novel. Overall, this book failed to captivate me, and I was left feeling bored and unimpressed.
4. Michael - 2.5 stars - Although "The Curse of the Biggest Vampire" had its moments, it ultimately fell short for me. The pacing was inconsistent, with slow sections dragging on and action-packed scenes feeling rushed and underdeveloped. The character development was also lacking, as I found it hard to connect or empathize with any of the characters. The plot had potential, but it was poorly executed, with too many loose ends and unresolved storylines. While the concept was interesting, the overall execution left much to be desired.