April 5, 2023 – 2:51 PM
An AI-based image generator called Midjourney has prevented its users from creating images of Chinese President Xi Jinping – Interesting geometry writes.
David Halls, CEO of San Francisco-based Midjourney, said they wanted to “reduce the drama” and that political satire is “not quite as good” in China. He added that the company is trying to be sensitive to different societies and cultures,
And political satire is “completely taboo in China, and having a group of people use our mining software in China isn’t helping anyone.”
Halls noted that the service is still available in China and stressed that it could have a much more positive impact on the world than the people who use it to make political jokes.
The ban doesn’t just affect Chinese users: no one in the world can create a picture of Xi Jinping with Midjourney.
However, according to Twitter’s evidence, censorship can be easily circumvented at the moment:
We’ve previously written about the company’s imaging model at Telex. With the help of the program, a photo was taken of Pope Ferenc in the puffer jacket, caught during the arrest Donald Trumpabout, among the French demonstrators Walker Emmanuel Macronabout and that Elon Musk holding Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s handAlso about.
Midjourney announced a few days ago that from now on it is only operating as a paid service, so the ability to create your first 25 photos for free will no longer be available.
