Bing’s AI image generator apparently blocks prompts about the Twin Towers

After some users of Bing’s DALL-E 3 integration found a loophole in the tool’s security barriers and generated art featuring several beloved animated characters and the Twin Towers, Microsoft appears to have blocked the ability to display anything related to the twin towers.

As reported by 404 MediaUsers of Microsoft’s Bing Chat and its Bing image generator, recently integrated with OpenAI’s DALL-E 3, used the tools to create photos of SpongeBob SquarePants, Kirby, pilots of Neon Genesis Evangelionand many others flying a plane into the Twin Towers.

People have been able to create truly insane photographs using AI image generators, some with copyrighted characters. But as AI image generators have gotten into trouble over copyright claims and deepfakes, developers have been more careful about allowing people to use their tools to create questionable photos. OpenAI, developer of DALL-E 3, had promised that it would not generate images from messages with prominent names.

Caitlin Roulston, Microsoft’s chief communications officer, said in a statement emailed to The edge that the company plans to improve its systems “to help prevent the creation of harmful content.”

“As with any new technology, some are trying to use it in ways that were not intended, so we are implementing a variety of barriers and filters to make Bing Image Creator a positive and useful experience for users,” Roulston said .

Some Edge Writers were initially able to generate images similar to those 404 described, including the famous Italian plumber Mario flying a plane with views of the Twin Towers from the cockpit. But when I tried to recreate it with Bing Image Creator after contacting Microsoft, I discovered that the term “twin towers” had been blocked and I received a content warning saying that the message possibly violates content policies. A colleague received the same response when asked simply about “the Twin Towers” ​​and “the World Trade Center.”

Microsoft did not expand on what these barriers or filters might look like and did not comment on whether it recently blocked content related to the Twin Towers.

Blocking some content may come a little late, since 404 Media reported Posters on sites like 4chan have been guiding people on how to manipulate free tools like Bing Chat and Stable Diffusion to create and distribute racist images.

The developers of DALL-E 3 openly admitted that their security measures are “not perfect” and are constantly being updated. They probably didn’t expect that photos of SpongeBob committing acts of terrorism would be the proof they were waiting for.