Microsoft’s artificial intelligence imaging tools powered by technology from Sam Altman’s OpenAI are producing sexually explicit and violent images that have the potential to harm the public, the tech giant’s engineers say. He says he is concerned.
Shane Jones, a principal software engineering manager who has worked at the Windows maker for the past six years, sent a letter to Microsoft’s board of directors and the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday expressing concerns about the company’s “responsible approach to AI.” . ”
Mr. Jones defied orders from his superiors to keep quiet about the matter, choosing to alert lawmakers and federal regulators, but especially with Microsoft’s Copilot Designer (OpenAI’s DALL-E text-to-image It warned of the potential for abuse of the Prompt-like AI image generation tool). Debuted in March last year.
When testing Copilot Designer, he found that the software “features images of demons and monsters, teenagers with assault rifles, and sexualized women in violent paintings, along with terms related to abortion rights.” It wrote that it found several safety issues and deficiencies, including images depicting “underage drinking and drugs.” use. “
Jones told CNBC. He said he has been conducting these tests for the past three months.
He said his position is officially unrelated to Copilot Designer, but that he is a so-called “red teamer.” This is a term used to describe employees who voluntarily test their company’s AI technology to look for potential problems.
Jones said he raised his concerns with upper management in December, but the company resisted his recommendation to take Copilot Designer off the market in order to make a fix.
Instead, Microsoft executives introduced Jones to OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed company that deployed ChatGPT. Copilot Designer is powered by OpenAI technology.
The Post has reached out to Microsoft and OpenAI for comment.
Jones said he asked OpenAI to remove DALL-E 3, the latest version of the AI model that powers Copilot Designer’s technology, but was met with silence. It was then that he posted an open letter on LinkedIn about his concerns.
Microsoft’s legal department ordered Jones to delete the letter, and Jones complied, according to CNBC.
Earlier this year, Jones took his concerns to the U.S. Senate and wrote a letter on the issue.
He also met with staff from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
He expressed similar concerns in a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan on Wednesday.
“Over the past three months, I have repeatedly asked Microsoft to remove Copilot Designer from public use until better safeguards are in place,” Jones said in a letter obtained by CNBC. Ta.
“Again, they have failed to implement these changes and continue to sell their products to ‘anyone.’ anywhere. Any device. ”
