Microsoft Faces Criticism Over AI Image-Generating ToolMicrosoft Engineer Urges Action Against Harmful AI Images

A Microsoft engineer has raised concerns about offensive and damaging imagery created by the company's artificial intelligence image-generating tool.

On Wednesday, he sent letters to U.S. regulators and the company's board of directors, urging them to take action. Shane Jones, who considers himself a whistleblower, also met with U.S. Senate staff last month to share his concerns. The Federal Trade Commission confirmed receiving his letter but did not comment further.

Microsoft stated that it is dedicated to addressing employee concerns and appreciates Jones' efforts in testing their latest technology for safety. They recommended that he use their internal reporting channels to investigate and resolve the issues. CNBC was the first to report on the letters.

Jones, a principal software engineering lead, has spent three months trying to address safety concerns related to Microsoft's Copilot Designer. This tool can generate images from written prompts and is based on another AI image-generator called DALL-E 3, created by Microsoft's business partner OpenAI. Jones informed the FTC that the tool can also produce other harmful content, including violence, political bias, underage drinking and drug use, and misuse of corporate trademarks and copyrights.

He has repeatedly asked Microsoft to either remove the product from the market until it is safer or change its age rating to make it clear that it is for mature audiences. In his letter to Microsoft's board, he requested an independent investigation into whether the company is marketing unsafe products without disclosing known risks to consumers, particularly children.

This is not the first time Jones has voiced his concerns publicly. Initially, Microsoft advised him to bring his findings directly to OpenAI. When that was unsuccessful, he posted a letter to OpenAI on Microsoft-owned LinkedIn in December. A manager then informed him that Microsoft's legal team demanded the post be deleted, which he did reluctantly.

Jones has also brought his concerns to the attention of the state attorney general in Washington, where Microsoft is headquartered, in addition to the U.S. Senate's Commerce Committee.

According to Jones, the main issue lies with OpenAI's DALL-E model. However, those using OpenAI's ChatGPT to generate AI images will not experience the same harmful outputs as the two companies have different safeguards in place.

In 2022, several impressive AI image-generators were introduced, including the second generation of OpenAI's DALL-E 2. This sparked public interest and put pressure on tech giants like Microsoft and Google to release their own versions. However, without proper safeguards, this technology can pose risks, as it can easily generate harmful "deepfake" images of political figures, war zones, and nonconsensual nudity that appear to be real people with recognizable faces. In response to backlash over its depiction of race and ethnicity, Google has temporarily suspended its Gemini chatbot's ability to generate images of people, such as by putting people of color in Nazi-era military uniforms.

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