Microsoft Engineer Warns of Copilot’s Risks

Shane Jones, who spent six years at Microsoft, claimed that the company’s chatbot generates obscene images and disregards copyright laws.

He repeatedly warned management about the sexual and violent content produced by Copilot Designer. However, he stated that the company did not take appropriate action.

Microsoft introduced the AI model, based on OpenAI technologies, in March 2023. Users must input text prompts to create images.

A month before the release, Jones actively tested the product for vulnerabilities. He noticed that the tool generates illustrations that do not align with the company’s principles of responsible AI.

According to the engineer, the chatbot depicted:

• monsters advocating for abortion rights;
• teenagers with firearms;
• sexualized images of women in violent scenes;
• minors consuming alcohol and drugs.

“That’s when I first realized this is truly an unsafe model,” Jones told CNBC in an interview.

He was deeply concerned and began reporting his findings to management in December last year. Although the company agreed with his concerns, it did not withdraw the product from sale.

In January 2024, the engineer wrote to US senators about the issue and later met with staff from the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

“For the past three months, I have repeatedly urged Microsoft to withdraw Copilot Designer from public use until more robust safeguards are in place,” Jones told officials.

According to him, the Copilot team receives over 1,000 product reviews daily but investigates only the most egregious cases. Addressing all issues would require significant investment in new development or retraining models, but the corporation lacks the resources.

The chatbot has another problem: Copilot creates detailed images of Disney cartoon characters and Star Wars heroes, potentially violating copyright laws and Microsoft’s policy.

“The trouble is, if this product starts spreading questionable images worldwide, there’s nowhere to report it. There’s no phone number to call to take immediate action and stop it,” Jones added.

The Copilot Designer app for Android still holds an “E for Everyone” rating, indicating it is safe and has no age restrictions.

In February 2024, Google halted image creation via Gemini due to user complaints about historical inaccuracies.