Facebook Adds AI Stickers For Some Users, And The Results Have Been A Ridiculous Mess
Meta has added AI-generated stickers to its Messenger app, but it looks like the company didn't really test the feature all that well before launch. Users who had access to it have apparently gotten the tool to generate all sorts of images that could earn one an emergency HR meeting and then shared the results on social media.
For the past week, Facebook has been testing AI-generated stickers for Messenger and WhatsApp, with the feature being made available for select users. The feature allows those chosen to make all sorts of stickers limited only by their imagination and not much else, as users on X and TikTok promptly discovered.
By putting in prompts like "child soldier" and "walugi rifle," users found out that Meta must have forgotten to run some basic testing because the new tool happily obliged to complete requests that Facebook would otherwise not touch with a 10-foot pole.
Pregnant, well-endowed and and even bottom naked historical figures have been just the tip of the iceberg, as users got Messenger to create stickers with copyrighted characters from Nintendo and Disney franchises wielding weapons and, well, being pregnant, well-endowed and naked.
As the feature is not available to everyone yet – META says it's rolling out the stickers "to select English-language users over the next month in WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and Facebook Stories" – the scale of the shenanigans has been limited, which didn't stop posts sharing their creative results on X and TikTok.
According to reports, some users have since lost their access to the feature — Meta has not yet clarified whether it's putting the genie back in the bottle or just rotating access to the tool between different users.
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rerere284
wow they didn't even censor "large breasts" which afaik all of the other neutered ones have blocked. lmao
at least they made sure to randomize the races of what gets generated, since that probably prevents what actually seems to cause controversy.
the lack of censoring nudity is surprising, since everything else does that these days, even though people don't seem to get as mad about that
rerere284
uh, for those that don't know about the race thing:
AIs have a tendency to not randomize anything you don't specify, so it defaults to white people a lot.
To avoid controversy, some AIs will append/preppend your prompt with 'mexican' or whatever randomly to try and randomize the race of the person in the generated image.
You can see this AI doing it when it made Justin Trudeau black in the "Trudeau buttocks" prompt, and I saw a "Steven universe buttocks" one where one had a sombrero.
You can catch it doing this with a prompt like "on a sign" or "a sign that says" and then it will generate a sign saying whatever was added onto the start/end of the prompt.
sorry if it's weird that I'm focusing on this, it's just neat how a shiny corporate entity is trying to tame a weird eldritch ball of math to not mess up their brand
Evilthing
My bet it's going to be quickly neutered to the point of uselessness.
PhasmaFelis
Technically it was useless already, but "neutered to the point of non-memeworthiness" at the very least.
LilaBirby
non-memeworthy things makes me sad. :(