Buzzing about 'the whole internet wearing the same dress', be careful of lurking dangers

Netizens are racing to post photos of their stunning transformations thanks to an app that helps change their appearance, including clothes, hairstyles, and even details like lipstick color, with just one click using artificial intelligence (AI).

After only three times of selecting photos, changing outfits, changing styles..., BeautyCam produced very different photos. Photo before editing (right) and edited via BeautyCam.

Online community: From now on, no need to buy dresses or clothes anymore

Many young people after using "Multi-function Camera - BeautyCam" have the same feeling of surprise. Because this application has almost all the functions, from taking pictures (portraits, film color photos, professional photos with DSLR mode), photo editing and video editing.

Since the afternoon of February 18, netizens have been sharing beautiful, yet magically edited photos. What has "captured the hearts" of young people is that this application creates photo and video editing commands that are fully integrated with AI automatically. It is still possible to manually edit every detail from facial features, wrinkle removal, concealment, cheekbones, lips to lipstick color...

A very special feature that many young people in the country are "racing" to use is the AI ​​wardrobe. All you have to do is select an existing photo, choose a style of dress, clothes, accessories... and let AI process it. The result is available in just a few seconds: a photo with the same face but completely changed clothes.

Since then, many young people joke that from now on they don't need to spend too much money to buy dresses, clothes, and shoes.

Users remain skeptical about security and privacy

Too many people using the AI ​​wardrobe feature at the same time caused BeautyCam to continuously report being overloaded on the evening of February 18.

According to information on the App Store, "multi-function camera - BeautyCam" belongs to the publisher Xiamen Meitu Technology Co., Ltd. Meitu Inc. is a Chinese technology company, founded in 2008 with the main field of manufacturing smartphones and photography applications.

Sharing with Tuoi Tre Online , Thuy Trinh (26 years old, living in Ho Chi Minh City) said that besides the photo-taking and photo-editing features such as background removal and lipstick and makeup, BeautyCam's AI feature is what attracts her.

With AI, BeautyCam can help users take professional-looking photos wherever they are. Features like facial expression correction, object removal, image enlargement, and AI-powered transformation effects are also very "hot" with young people.

However, Thuy Trinh and many other users are also skeptical about the privacy and security of user information from BeautyCam.

Sharing the same concern, Ngoc Duc (27 years old, living in District 1) said that the application of freely changing a person's appearance and clothes after a click will allow those with bad intentions to freely "cook" to impersonate someone.

On the App Store, BeautyCam is listed as a 12+ app. This means the app "contains occasional mild strong language, intense and graphic cartoon violence, fantasy violence, or realistic violence. Occasionally contains mildly suggestive or mature themes, and simulated gambling. This content may not be suitable for children under 12."

Be careful when installing and granting access to applications.

In a quick exchange with Tuoi Tre Online, Lieutenant Colonel, PhD, and criminology psychology expert Dao Trung Hieu said that when installing applications, many people carelessly grant permission for the applications to access most of the existing features on the phone.

Lieutenant Colonel, PhD, criminology psychology expert Dao Trung Hieu - Photo: NVCC

In particular, granting access to the photo library inadvertently allows this application to collect and analyze all images, including sensitive photos. Some applications can silently activate the camera without explicit consent, creating the risk of being tracked.

The risk of eavesdropping is real if an app has unchecked access to the microphone. Some apps also collect information about your location, contacts, messages, and call history, creating the conditions for privacy violations.

Constantly updating personal photos on social networks can lead to many risks for everyone. Such as identity theft, allowing hackers to use photos to create fake accounts or deepfakes. Photos can contain metadata (EXIF), revealing the location, time, device used... helping bad guys track.

Being exploited to create fake content from AI can now edit and combine photos very sophisticatedly, creating fake photos or videos for the purpose of fraud and defamation.

Psychological attacks, online fraud because bad guys can exploit images to lure, blackmail or attack through social engineering techniques (fraud techniques based on human psychology).

From there, criminal psychology expert Dao Trung Hieu believes that users need to be more proactive in protecting themselves.

By checking the access rights of applications, checking the origin of applications, using tools to remove EXIF ​​information before posting photos online, limiting real-time photo sharing, using highly trusted applications and checking and removing permissions after not using the app.

"Photo editing apps can bring an interesting experience, but they can also be a double-edged sword if you are not careful. In the era of strong AI development, protecting personal data is more important than ever. Users need to be alert before granting permissions, to avoid letting personal images become tools for bad guys to exploit," said Mr. Dao Hieu Trung.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ran-ran-toan-coi-mang-mac-chung-1-chiec-vay-can-trong-nguy-co-rinh-rap-20250219141003207.htm