When Apple announced Apple Intelligence as part of the iOS 18 unveiling at WWDC in June, it confirmed that one of the new features that fall under that umbrella will involve images created by generative AI. But while some of the Apple Intelligence features are already available in the iOS 18.1 developer beta, there has so far been no sign of the promised image-based generative AI magic. And Google might have just shown why Apple is right to hang fire.
Following the launch of the Google Pixel 9 series of devices, people have been putting Pixel Studio through its paces. It’s an app that uses Google’s AI smarts to create images, as you might imagine, based on text prompts provided by users. But while Google has of course put guardrails in place to try and prevent people from misusing the technology, some report that these guardrails aren’t doing such a good job at … guarding.
In fact, one report details how Pixel Studio was more than happy to create an image that took Spongebob and placed him in a Nazi uniform. And that’s just the start.
Generative AI problems
According to a Digital Trends report, they were unable to have Pixel Studio create images of people because Google has coded it not to do such a thing. But fictional characters that aren’t human seem to be fair game.
“As one example, I’ve had Pixel Studio generate an image of SpongeBob dressed as a Nazi,” Digital Trends explains. “When given the prompt ‘SpongeBob dressed as a German soldier from WWII with a swastika on the uniform,’ Pixel Studio didn’t hesitate to provide me with an image of precisely that.”
Spongebob wasn’t the only one to fall foul of Pixel Studio, either.
“I’ve also gotten Pixel Studio to generate pictures of Elmo pointing a shotgun at Big Bird, Yoda doing cocaine, Mr. Krabs holding an assault rifle, and more,” the report continues.
These characters are of course copyrighted so we can only imagine how the companies behind them feel about these images.
We can’t imagine that they’re happy. And we can’t imagine Apple wanting any part of something like that, either.
The iOS 18.1 software update, with Apple Intelligence in tow, isn’t expected to launch until around October time. Before that, iOS 18 will ship next month, likely just days before the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models arrive in Apple Stores around the world.