The use of AI to generate images is a controversial issue. Apart from copyright problems, one must consider all the malicious uses that can be made of them, even the seemingly innocent ones. Because sometimes the line between what is funny, problematic, and potentially reportable is not a line, but three circles overlapping each other. Microsoft might discover this firsthand in the coming days.
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Although Microsoft’s Bing Image Creator has been with us since March, it’s a tool that hasn’t caused much sensation. With more powerful and established tools available, this Microsoft tool has gone relatively unnoticed. Until people discovered how to make the AI create images with famous characters, such as the adorable Kirby. And what people have immediately done is create images of Kirby perpetuating acts of international terrorism by piloting planes crashing into the Twin Towers.
Despite Bing Image Creator having an extensive filter for banned words, including 9/11, Twin Towers, or terrorism, evading these filters is very simple. By asking the AI to create an image of Kirby sitting in the pilot’s cockpit of an airplane, flying between two skyscrapers in New York, Microsoft’s AI tools will give us exactly what we want to see. And this won’t sit well with Nintendo’s lawyers.
In fact, Nintendo has not yet commented on all of this, but Microsoft has. They have stated, however, that they do not take responsibility for what their users create. While they have mentioned that they will continue to add filters to prevent the creation of offensive or inappropriate content, they have not specifically addressed this particular case. However, it is expected that in the coming days, it will no longer be possible to create images of Kirby committing terrible acts of international terrorism. Or at least, that is what we hope.
