Yesterday, about 50 AI-generated images imagining what the arrest of former President Donald Trump might look like went viral on Twitter. The image caused confusion for some users as his Midjourney v5 engine used to create the image produces very realistic content.
Today, the Midjourney user behind the image, Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins, told Buzzfeed News that he was banned from Midjourney because of the image. Buzzfeed also reported that Midjourney has banned the use of the word “arrest” in text prompts that generate images.
Midjourney has yet to confirm the ban. In Ars’ tests, prompts using Donald Trump’s name also appeared to be blocked by the engine, instead giving the error “The prompt was blocked because its content may conflict with his policies.” His message is generated. I got the same error message when using prompts that included other Trump surnames and the names of all presidents. However, the names of other celebrities, such as former NFL player Tom Brady, seem to still be accepted in prompts.
Higgins told Buzzfeed that he understands why Midjourney banned him. Higgins told Ars that while the reaction to the image was generally positive, the reaction from Trump supporters was “pretty angry.”
“I didn’t mean to make a slick critique or anything like that,” Higgins told Buzzfeed, saying he was just having fun imagining Trump’s arrest in the image. started.”
Higgins told Als that what “really stood out” for him was “the number of people who seem unaware of the existence or potential of mid-journeys.” He believes it “has had a positive impact in raising awareness of what images can be faked today” and that AI platforms like Midjourney “maybe train datasets on people who don’t want to be recreated.” You shouldn’t,” he said.
Yesterday, Higgins told Wired how to prevent Twitter users from being fooled by compelling AI-generated images, such as fake Trump arrest images. Higgins says celebrities are easy targets for deepfakes, but “it’s clear that the more famous a person is, the more images the AI learns from,” Higgins said.
Higgins told Wired:
On Twitter, Higgins’ images now have a community note declaring them fake. Twitter’s policy states that users “must not falsely share synthetic or manipulated media that may cause harm,” and that these labels “help people understand their authenticity.” useful,” and “provides additional context.”
higgins whole thread As of this writing, some images have been viewed 4.8 million times.
Trump had previously indicated that he expected his indictment to take place yesterday, but that didn’t happen. It is reported that he may be arrested for paying hush money.
Ars did not find Trump’s comments on the AI-generated image of Higgins, but Forbes reported that Trump told advisers, if arrested, that he would be arrested in a “spectacle” that included a “purp walk” in which he was handcuffed. Reportedly told him he hoped for something. That he does not appear weak to his supporters.
