Experts and advocates have urged vigilance amid the growing ChatGPT caricature trend flooding social media platforms, citing privacy and security concerns.
Netizens across platforms from Facebook to X are posting cartoonish caricatures of themselves created using ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by OpenAI.
Social media users around the world upload their selfies to generate portrait-style caricatures that blend their photos with job-related props based on chat history and other information they have shared, the Philippine Star reported.
Meanwhile, individuals who did not have enough chat history with ChatGPT can still have an AI-generated caricature by sharing personal information such as work, professional attire and hobbies.
Others may also be asked to provide information on their personalities or describe their home environments or living situations, which makes the output better and closer to reality.
Many users who joined the trend said they were satisfied with the animated versions of themselves, noting that the images were accurate and playful, with props reflecting their daily lives.
Trend sparks privacy, security concerns
However, experts strongly warned the public that while this trend seems all for fun and harmless, it also means that a user shares plenty of sensitive data to ChatGPT just to join a viral trend and avoid missing out.
Jake Moore, a global cybersecurity advisor at ESET, said that when users upload photos and personal details to chatbots, platforms collect and analyse the information, which may be stored and used to train AI models.
“The platform collects all of this information and analyses it. This information gets stored and is used to train these impressive models alongside unclear long-term uses,” he said, as quoted by Forbes.
Matt Conlon, chief executive officer and co-founder of security firm Cytidel, echoed similar concerns, warning that the trend could lead to serious data privacy risks and increase the threat of identity theft.
Plan International Philippines executive director Pebbles Sanchez-Ogang also cautioned that the images could be misused for deepfakes and other illicit online content.
“It’s fun, but it’s alarming, dangerous and actually scary because you are offering your image, you are offering yourself to the AI world,” Sanchez Ogang said, as quoted by ABS-CBN News.
No guarantee on data control
These warnings came as experts noted that information provided to chatbots has no guarantee whether it can be removed or controlled.
According to OpenAI’s privacy policy, the submitted information of a user may be utilised to provide and maintain services as well as enhance products and conduct research.
Chris Linell, associate director at consultancy Bridewell, warned that the policy allows broad data sharing with affiliates and service providers without clearly defining downstream use.
Likewise, Aboubakr Abdel Karim, former assistant to Egypt interior minister for relations and media, told Al Arabiya that the primary danger in these kinds of trends lies in image retention, noting that these images may be shared to third parties under vague privacy policies.
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Calls for increased vigilance, cybersecurity awareness
To reduce risks, experts urged users to read OpenAI’s privacy policy in their region and avoid oversharing personal information.
Linell advised social media users to refrain from uploading photos or sensitive data and to review privacy settings regularly.
Culture AI lead cybersecurity researcher Oliver Simmonnet suggested keeping prompts generic and sharing limited information for those who still wish to join the trend.
Additionally, Abdel Karim said that the public must improve their cybersecurity awareness, emphasising that informed use of AI tools will help an individual protect themselves against any harm.
With these moves, experts believe that users will get to join these kinds of trends and other Internet craze that may arise in the future without compromising their safety and security.
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