Recent technological leaps in the field of images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) have been highlighted by the emergence of DALL-E 2: an AI image generator that can be used to create intimate – but not sex-related – pictures.
DALL-E 2, launched in January 2022 by the OpenAI research company, quickly creates original images from a written description typed on the system’s site. Sex-related words cannot be processed by the system – requests to generate images about sex robots, massaged buttocks or helicoptering penises will prove fruitless – but some arguably erotic pictures can be generated.
Although the system is pitched as fun and creative rather than something to be used for anything sexual, its abilities do raise the prospect of its potential to generate hyper-realistic sexual content in the future. Recently Porn Pen, an AI image generator that works similarly to DALL-E 2, gained traction online for its ability to sometimes create realistic nude pictures.
Images recently created on DALL-E 2 by Futureofsex using terms such as “holding hands” resulted in some strikingly beautiful, impressively realistic pictures showcasing human intimacy. Images created by SEXTECHGUIDE using terms such as “robot licking human” resulted in some less beautiful, but arguably just as intimate pictures.
The system works by DALL-E 2’s AI being trained with images and their text descriptions. In an explainer video created by OpenAI the company explained: “Through deep learning it not only understands individual objects, like koala bears and motorcycles, but learns from relationships between objects.”
Highlighting the fact that creating weird sexual images is very much not the end goal of OpenAI, they added: “DALL-E helps humans understand how AI systems see and understand our world. This is a critical part of developing AI that’s useful and safe.”
DALL-E 2 joined the likes of Stable Diffusion in the AI image generating field, a sector that seems to be on the threshold of a mainstream breakthrough, especially considering its potential to create non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
However, concerns have been raised about how the technology could be used to generate potentially harmful deepfake images of non-consenting individuals.
You can sign up to use DALL-E 2 now, to create your own (non-sex-related) images. You get 50 credits to test out the image engine, along with 15 free new credits each month.
Read next: Deepfake porn fears: AI-generated faces as realistic as real faces, research finds // Porn Pen is a site that generates super-realistic AI porn (sometimes)
Jamie is a freelance writer, contributing to outlets such as The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, CNN and Vice, among others. He is also the creative force behind the Audible podcast Beast Master.
