Midjourney ends free trials amid controversy over fake images

Monday, April 3rd, 2023

Midjourney, the artificial intelligence (AI) image generator programme, has discontinued free trials after a series of fake images, including one of Pope Francis, went viral.

Founder David Holz announced on his Discord channel, “Due to a combination of extraordinary demand and trial abuse, we are temporarily disabling free trials until we have our next improvements to the system deployed.”

Millions of people saw fake images of Donald Trump being arrested, a nod to his looming indictment by a Manhattan Grand Jury.

The images were created by Elliot Higgins, founder of the Bellingcat website, who has since been banned from Midjourney.

An AI image created on Midjourney v5 of Pope Francis in a white puffer jacket fooled many people into believing it was genuine.

The image’s author, Pablo Xavier, posted the images to a Facebook group called AI Art Universe and then on Reddit, after which they proceeded to go viral.

“I was just blown away,” he tells Buzzfeed News. “I didn’t want it to blow up like that.”

Holz acknowledged that his company was uncertain about how to manage the remarkable capabilities of the tool they had developed. The CEO said that, at this point, the company could either “go full Disney or go full Wild West” when it comes to the realism of the images.

Growing concerns about AI’s power

There are growing concerns about AI’s power, which has increased rapidly in the last few months. Elon Musk and other notable technology figures signed a public letter calling for a “pause” on “dangerous” AI experiments so that a set of shared safety protocols can be thrashed out between the key players.

On March 27, before the publication of Pope Francis in the puffer jacket, the pontiff applauded the benefits of technology and artificial intelligence when used for the common good. However, he has warned against using AI unethically or irresponsibly.

Technology is, and has been, he said, “immensely beneficial” to our human family, especially in medicine, engineering and communications.

“At the same time,” Pope Francis cautioned, “I am certain that this potential will be realised only if there is a constant and consistent commitment on the part of those developing these technologies to act ethically and responsibly.”