The latest Meta feature allows users to create personalized icons on Messenger and Facebook. (Source: Meta and Futurism.com)

Meta Adds AI-Generated Sticker Icons of Celebrities at Its Own Risk

Of all the things a person might think about asking a generative AI program to do, showing a picture of Elon Musk with boobs isn’t one of them. However, according to futurism.com, Meta is now making it possible with the addition of AI-generated sticker icons on its messenger platform. The image of Musk was generated by Meta, with the headline from futurism.com.

While this new creative tool will be helpful to users, the Meta Threads platform that was released recently is in direct competition with Musk’s X, formerly Twitter.

Shortly after the release of this AI assistant, the users responded in a big way.

“In screenshots uploaded to X—formerly Twitter—early testers had no trouble generating cartoon images of Karl Marx with breasts, or Canadian president Justin Trudeau revealing his buttocks.”

“Unsurprisingly, multi-hyphenate CEO Elon Musk was one immediate target. While Gizmodo’s prompt for the phrase “Elon Musk, large breasts” was caught by Meta’s filters, the phrase “Elon Musk mammaries” resulted in hilarious stickers that could easily prompt raised eyebrows — or uncontrollable fits of laughter — from your Facebook friends.”

We doubt that Musk thought it was as funny as the creators did.

A Meta illustration of how users can edit stickers generated by AI. (Source: Meta.com)

Lacking Guardrails

Meta announced they have included “built-in safeguards.” Not everyone who checked out the new assistant agreed with Meta’s assessment of their guidelines.

In a recent blog post, Tama Leaver, professor of internet studies at Curtin University in Australia, noted some glaring oversights.

“Returning to the question of safeguards, though, even the bare minimum does not appear very effective,” Leaver wrote in his post, adding that “there are clearly lingering questions about just how effective these safeguards really are.”

While the program alerted to words like “sex, slut, or hooker,” it did allow children with guns to be generated into images.

More carnage involving Meta’s upcoming AI features is likely. The company has released an early beta of AI-powered chatbots with “personalities” based on celebrities, including Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus, Kendall Jenner, Dwayne Wade, and Paris Hilton.

Seeflection.com previously carried the story of the release of celebrity chat personalities last week.

read more at futurism.com