Amid the outcry over a social media app that ages its users, at least one GP has welcomed the grey and wrinkled images appearing across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Millions have seen themselves morphing into old age by downloading FaceApp, a smartphone app that transforms photos using artificial intelligence.

Many have queried privacy aspects surrounding the app as it demands “irrevocable access” to users’ photos, but UK GP Dr Sayyada Mawji has welcomed its appearance as a chance to consider issues surrounding caring for the elderly.

Bringing young people face-to-face with their future could spark conversations about the “loneliness epidemic” and how best to care for older people, she writes in an opinion piece for the French news site Euronews.