The Kremlin has called out the makers of a Russian AI chatbot after their technology created naked images of Vladimir Putin and kept getting the country’s flag design wrong.
The developers of the Kandinsky chatbot have angered the Kremlin after it emerged that when users ask for an image of a ‘naked Putin’, the AI program generates embarrassing nude images of the Russian president.
One image created by the AI chatbot shows a naked Putin standing up and holding a wooden stick, while another shows the Russian despot naked while looking terrified in what appears to be a prison cell.
The AI chatbot also continued to produce images of the Russian flag in the wrong colors when users asked it to create an image of the white, blue and red national flag.
For example, when Russian politician Sergei Mironov asked the chatbot to create an image of “beautiful Russia,” it generated an image of a headless man standing in front of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow and a Russian flag in the wrong colors.
And after entering ‘Donbass in Russia’, the chatbot created an image of a Russian soldier in front of destroyed houses with a red, yellow and blue flag over it.
But Mironov, parliament speaker of the Kremlin-loyal A Just Russia party, found that the chatbot could correctly display the correct colors of the Ukrainian flag when asked to depict “Ukraine.”
The Kremlin is furious over the AI chatbot’s ability to consistently create naked images of Putin and its inability to get the design of the Russian flag right.
The developers of the Kandinsky chatbot have angered the Kremlin after it emerged that when users ask for an image of a ‘naked Putin’, the AI program generates nude images of the Russian president
One image created by the AI chatbot shows a naked Putin standing up and holding a wooden stick, while another shows the Russian despot naked as he looks terrified in what appears to be a prison cell
And after entering ‘Donbass in Russia’, the chatbot created an image of a Russian soldier in front of destroyed houses with a red, yellow and blue flag over it
The developers of the Kandinsky chatbot, from the Russian banking company Sberbank, and the head of the Russian search engine Yandex have now been summoned to the Russian prosecutor’s office for creating such a ‘negative image of Russia’.
The AI developers were told to tighten their security settings after their chatbot kept taking nude photos of Putin when users searched for “naked Putin.”
But even after the developers made some changes, users can still ask the chatbot to take nude photos of Putin if they specify their request.
German Gref, the head of chatbot developer Sberbank, told the Sun: ‘Both we and Yandex were immediately taken to the public prosecutor’s office. We have a model for generating the Russian flag – well, it’s generative, it tries to improve it. It also drew domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral on the flag.
‘The delegates thought this was a mockery of our national flag.
‘We immediately stopped doing certain things. It no longer generates state symbols, it generates a predetermined image.’
Gref said the problem was that the AI chatbot model it used lost 12 percent of its creativity and accuracy, meaning the colors of the Russian flag generated by Kandinsky were wrong.
He said: “We have not been able to display the model for the past six months as we have been tightening security settings.
‘At the same time, the publicly available model lost 12% in creativity and accuracy.
‘We will have to get through this period. We need the help of the state in terms of leniency and understanding that for now we are here as children – we should not be judged too much.”
When Russian politician Sergei Mironov asked the chatbot to create an image of “beautiful Russia,” it generated an image of a headless man standing in front of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow and a Russian flag in the wrong colors
The Kremlin has called out the makers of a Russian AI chatbot after their technology created naked images of Vladimir Putin (pictured on Wednesday) and the country’s flag design kept getting it wrong
But Mironov said younger generations of Russian children will not know what the Russian flag will look like because of the chatbot’s mistakes.
He said: ‘They will not know what the national flag of Russia looks like, and will believe that Russia is a scientifically backward country.’
Mironov said it appeared the chatbot was based on designs by “unfriendly states waging an informational and mental war” against Russia.
There are now rumors that Gref will be charged by the Russian government for defaming the Russian military after it emerged that when users ask the chatbot to create an image of a ‘Z-patriot’, it shows a zombie-like creature.
But this remains to be seen and Gref said Sberbank is approaching AI development “without fear.”
He said: ‘The first and most important thing is to try not to regulate this area, and this is the most the state can do…
“It seems to me that the government in Russia understands this very well so far, and that the Central Bank is tackling this soberly and without any fear.”
Whether or not Gref is charged, it is embarrassing for Sberbank at a time when Russia is calling on citizens and businesses alike to join in support of the war in Ukraine.