AI selfies are the new hot new thing, but it comes with controversy: If you’re an Instagram user, you’ve probably seen tons of your friends sharing some pretty celestial AI-generated selfies. Thanks to a new feature from photo and video editing app Lensa, you can upload eight to 10 photos from various angles and generate a number of portraits including anime characters, cyborgs, and fairy princesses. The trendy new feature launched Lensa to the top of the Apple and Google store downloads — netting an astounding 4 mn downloads during the first five days of December, the Washington Post writes, citing data from Sensor Towers.

Here’s the catch: Not all the AI-generated portraits were flattering. Some users ended up with images of themselves disfigured, while others received topless images when they submitted full-body shots. The viral trend has added fuel to the great debate surrounding social media and unrealistic beauty standards as the AI portraits often depict users as thinner and younger. From an artistry angle — due to the app’s AI mining a database of images online to produce its art — an even bigger question looms over the impact on artists who make their living off commissions. Many complaints have been made about the nature of the application’s low cost and accessibility threatening their livelihood, CNN reports.

A vigorous routine can increase your life expectancy: Researchers found that picking up the pace and exerting more effort during daily activities — like washing the dishes, cycling, and playing with children — leading to a higher oxygen intake, an elevated heart rate and a higher rating of perceived exertion can increase your lifespan, according to a Nature Medicine study.

The results are striking: A week long experiment carried out on 25k participants found that carrying out strenuous physical activity for 1-2 minutes three or four times a day lowers your risk of dying by 30-40% and dying from cardiovascular diseases by 48-49%. Participants’ results were measured using wearable devices that classify physical activity intensity.

Microsoft tops best-managed companies in 2022 — despite most tech companies losing their top spots: Microsoft retained the top spot for the third year in a row on the Wall Street Journal’s Management Top 250 list in 2022, while other tech giants saw their rankings fall amid this year’s tech rout. Coming in second were Apple and IBM, while General Motors and Whirlpool rounded out the top five. Tech giants like Facebook parent Meta, Amazon, Alphabet and Uber have all dropped in this year’s ranking, as revenue growth slowed and customer satisfaction fell. Automotive companies posted big gains which the Drucker Institute — responsible for creating the ranking — attributes to the focus on EVs.

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