According to CNBC, a Microsoft engineer reported the company'sArtificial Intelligence Image Generator Copilot Designer There are safety risks.
The engineer, Shane Jones, who has worked at Microsoft for six years, wrote to the FTC saying that despite his repeated warnings that Copilot Designer could generate harmful images, Microsoft "refused" to remove the tool.
While testing Copilot Designer for safety issues and flaws, Jones found that the tool generated content such as "demons and monsters associated with abortion rights terminology, teenagers with assault rifles, sexualized images of women in violent situations, and underage drinking and drug use."
Jones has reportedly been trying to warn Microsoft about the model used by Copilot Designer since December. DALLE-3 He posted an open letter on LinkedIn, and was then contacted by Microsoft’s legal team to remove the post, which he did.
"Over the past three months, I have repeatedly urged Microsoft to remove Copilot Designer from public use until better safeguards are in place," Jones said. "However, they have once again failed to implement those changes and continue to market the product as available to 'anyone, anywhere, on any device.'"
Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw said in a statement to The Verge that the company is “committed to addressing any and all concerns raised by employees in accordance with Microsoft’s policies.” Shaw also said Microsoft has established in-product user feedback tools and robust internal reporting channels for issues that bypass security measures or have potential impact on our services or partners so that any issues can be properly investigated, prioritized, and corrected, and suggested that Jones utilize these channels so that Microsoft can “properly validate and test his concerns.”
Shaw also said Microsoft has "met with product leadership and our Office of Responsible AI to review these reports."
In January, Jones wrote to a panel of U.S. senators to voice his concerns after explicit images of Swift were generated by Copilot Designer and went viral. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called the images "shocking and horrific" and said the company would work to add more safeguards. Last month, Google temporarily disabled its AI image generator after its users discovered it was creating racially diverse Nazis and other historically inaccurate images.