Four Testicles And Nonsense Labels: AI Botches Rat Illustration In Published Scientific Paper

In a recent incident that raised eyebrows, Frontiers, a scientific journal, published a paper containing AI-generated images that are anatomically and scientifically incorrect.

What Happened: The paper, authored by Xinyu Guo and others, used the AI tool Midjourney to generate these images, which were then passed by the journal’s editorial and peer review process.

The paper, which was published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, included illustrations such as a rat with four oversized testicles and a massive penis, alongside labels like "testtomcels," "senctolic," and "diƨlocttal stem cells."

Another figure appeared to depict a scientific diagram of a signaling pathway but was filled with nonsensical words and numbers.

This incident is a worrying example of how scientific journals, editors, and peer reviewers can be hoodwinked into publishing AI-generated content that is not scientifically accurate.

Why It Matters: This incident is not the first time AI-generated content has caused concern. In January, Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella expressed his worries over AI-generated explicit images of pop star Taylor Swift.

In the same month, AI-generated deepfakes threatened the integrity of the U.S. election cycle, with fabricated explicit images of public figures being widely shared on social media.

Even earlier, in September, a small town in Spain was outraged when AI-created deepfake images targeting minor girls were circulated on the internet.

This latest incident involving the scientific journal Frontiers further highlights the potential risks and misuse of AI-generated content.

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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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