ZAO – a new Chinese app that allows users to switch their faces in a video clip with celebrities, sports stars or anyone else – racked up millions of downloads on the weekend but quickly drew fire on privacy concerns.
The app’s rise in popularity and some users ‘ sudden backlash highlights how artificial intelligence (AI) techniques raise fresh concerns about identity verification.
ZAO was uploaded to the iOS App Store in China on Friday and went viral instantly. According to a comment on China’s Twitter-like Weibo from the app manufacturers, ZAO’s servers almost collapsed owing to the traffic surge.
According to App Annie, a company that monitors downloads of apps worldwide, since Sept. 1, ZAO has been the most downloaded free app in China’s iOS App Store.
Using pictures taken with their smartphone, consumers sign up for ZAO with their phone number and upload pictures of their face.
They can then choose from a range of celebrity videos to overlay their face and share the videos with their colleagues.
Other popular faces on the app include Leonardo DiCaprio and Marilyn Monroe as well as Chinese celebrities.
After seeing her friends post videos on their WeChat feeds, Gu Shi, a 21-year-old student in Shanghai, uploaded ZAO.
“I’ve never tried using Japanese makeup and hairstyles because it’s too complicated to do all by myself,” she told reporters.
“This app gave me a chance to try a totally different style from my normal life.”
As the app became viral, some customers complained that they might be put at risk by their privacy policy.
One portion of the user agreement indicated that customers who upload their pictures to ZAO agree to surrender to their faces intellectual property rights and allow ZAO to use their pictures for marketing purposes.
Zao said it would solve these issues on Weibo.
“We thoroughly understand the anxiety people have towards privacy concerns,” the company said. “We have received the questions you have sent us. We will correct the areas we have not considered and require some time.”
ZAO was released by Momo Inc., best known as the creators of a dating app that later turned into a service for livestreaming. In 2014, the firm was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Momo did not react instantly to demands for comment from journalists.