A new AI trend is going viral, turning ordinary photos into images that look like they were taken in the 1980s.
But AI expert Dr Karaitiana Taiuru is warning people to think carefully before uploading their photos to AI services.
“If you are concerned about facial recognition technology, if you’re concerned the Government is digitising your driver’s license, if you’re concerned about data centres, then you should not be using the whole trend of 80s photos.”
When you use ChatGPT, the information you share is handled under OpenAI’s terms and privacy policy. OpenAI may use your content to improve its models, but you can turn off this use in your data settings.
This doesn’t mean that a photo is automatically stored as biometric data or used to create a biometric profile. But Dr Taiuru says people should think about what they are handing over.
“When you put it into ChatGPT or whatever’s creating that image of you, it is taking your biometrics, so your measurements of your face, your skin tone, your bone structure, everything that’s really unique about you is being harvested by big American tech companies.”
Dr Taiuru has also warned about the trend on social media.
“That selfie is biometric data, and unlike a password, you can’t change your face if it’s misused,” he wrote.
He says people should be aware that AI services may store and analyse uploaded images and, depending on the service, may use information to help train AI systems.
“Faces handed over to these trends can also be used for scams and deepfakes.”
There are also concerns about the energy and cooling needed to run AI services.
“If you’re worried about data centres, the amount of damage to the environment by creating one of those 80s images is quite significant.”
Ngā ture mō te atamai hangahanga
New Zealand has rules under the Privacy Act 2020 about how organisations handle personal information.
The Biometric Processing Privacy Code 2025 also sets specific rules for organisations carrying out biometric processing, such as using facial recognition to identify or categorise people.
But simply uploading a photo to an AI service does not automatically mean those rules apply. It depends on what the company does with the image.
Dr Taiuru is concerned that uploading photos to retro photo apps will result in biometric data being sold and incorporated into large databases, though whether data is actually shared, sold, or used for AI training depends entirely on the specific service’s terms and privacy settings.
He also says people should check what else is visible in their photos before uploading them.
“If you’ve got a background image, maybe you can see part of your license plate number, a geographic location, worse still, your children.”
Ngā mōrearea mō te iwi Māori
Dr Taiuru says he has particular concerns about photos showing facial moko.
“The facial moko is not considered biometric data. But the image is still in the AI. So the AI will use a person’s moko, and it’ll train itself.”
He says AI-generated images of moko could become more accurate as the technology develops.
The Privacy Commissioner has also recognised that biometric technology can raise particular concerns for Māori, including where images or biometric information relate to whakapapa, whānau, hapū and iwi.
Dr Taiuru is also concerned about racial profiling and inaccurate facial recognition.
“What we do know internationally is people of colour, Indigenous peoples often get mistakenly matched on these technologies.”
His advice is simple: think before uploading.
“I’d say, don’t do it. But that’s not a reality. I think, yeah, consider the risks to both yourself, your whanau, the mokos and future generations.”
