Meta’s new AI-generated stickers for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp are already causing controversy. Despite Meta’s efforts to filter objectionable content, some users have found ways to create mashups that include copyrighted characters engaging in inappropriate activities, such as Mickey Mouse smoking a marijuana cigar and Winnie the Pooh holding a rifle. These controversial stickers have gained significant attention, with artist Pier-Olivier Desbiens posting additional sticker images that have received hundreds of thousands of views and comments. Even prominent figures like Elon Musk and Alex Jones have become targets of parody stickers.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone acknowledged that generative AI systems like the one used for the stickers can produce inaccurate or inappropriate outputs and stated that they will work to improve these features based on user feedback. This controversy comes shortly after a chat with one of Meta’s new AI characters, “Brian, a warm grandfather in his 70s,” went off the rails. It also follows a warning from VentureBeat about the potential security, privacy, and tech hubris concerns raised by the rapid AI product releases from big tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft.
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