An
Microsoft
engineer has reportedly alleged that the software gaint "refused" to take down
Copilot Designer
despite repeated warnings that the tool is capable of generating harmful images. The engineer
Shane Jones
, who has worked for Microsoft for six years, has claimed the same in a letter (first reported by CNBC) to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
In the letter, Jones said that he has been trying to warn Microsoft about DALLE-3, the model used by Copilot Designer, since December. He also posted an open letter about the issues in the image generation tool in an open letter on LinkedIn. However, he was reportedly contacted by Microsoft’s legal team and asked to remove the post, which he said he did.
Repeatedly asked Microsoft to restrict the public use of the tool
“Over the last three months, I have repeatedly urged Microsoft to remove Copilot Designer from public use until better safeguards could be put in place,” Jones wrote in the letter obtained by CNBC. “Again, they have failed to implement these changes and continue to market the product to ‘Anyone. Anywhere. Any Device.’” Jones claimed that the risk "has been known by Microsoft and OpenAI prior to the public release of the AI model last October."
He has reportedly asked Microsoft to add disclosures to the product and change the rating on Google’s Android App Store to make clear that the image generation tool is only for mature audiences.
Sent letter to Microsoft Board
As per the CNBC report Jones also earlier sent a letter to Microsoft’s board. In the letter, Jones requested that the company’s environmental, social and public policy committee investigate certain decisions by the legal department and management, as well as begin “an independent review of Microsoft’s responsible AI incident reporting processes.”
He reportedly told the board that he’s “taken extraordinary efforts to try to raise this issue internally” by reporting concerning images to the Office of Responsible AI, publishing an internal post on the matter and meeting directly with senior management responsible for Copilot Designer.
English (US) ·