Incidentes Asociados
A new Washington's Lottery AI mobile site turned a user's photo into softcore pornography, forcing them to take the website down "out of an abundance of caution."
When Megan, a 50-year-old mother based in Tumwater, visited the new AI-powered mobile site from Washington's Lottery on March 30, she thought she was in for some frivolous fun. Test Drive A Win allows users to digitally throw a dart at a dartboard featuring dream vacations you can pay for with the money you win in the lottery. Depending on where the dart lands, you can either upload a headshot or take one on your phone to upload, and the AI superimposes your image into the vacation spot.
Megan landed on a "swim with the sharks" dream vacation option. She was shocked at one of the AI photos Washington's Lottery spit out. It was softcore porn.
How did the the Washington's Lottery site push out porn?
Megan says she used the in-site option to take a photo of her face to upload. The photo that was created shows a smiling AI version of Megan, but almost completely nude.
In the image, Megan is sitting on a bed, with a bathing suit bottom on, but no top. Her bare breasts are exposed. The background of the image appears to show the bedroom in an aquarium, with fish swimming around her. There is a Washington's Lottery logo in the bottom right corner.
"Our tax dollars are paying for that! I was completely shocked. It's disturbing to say the least," Megan explained to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.
Megan feared that the image could potentially get out and that it would happen to another website visitor. She told a friend, who happens to know someone at Washington's Lottery, what happened.
"I also think whoever was responsible for it should be fired," she added.
Washington's Lottery pulled the site offline
It's unclear how or why AI created this particular image, given the rules governing the content. The Jason Rantz Show on KTTH could not, of course, authenticate the image. However, a spokesperson for Washington's Lottery confirmed they received a report that the image was created by the AI system.
Approximately three hours after an inquiry by the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH, Washington's Lottery pulled the site offline. They also provided a statement.
"We were made aware that a single user of the AI platform was purportedly provided an image that did not adhere to the built-in parameters set by the developers. Prior to launch, we agreed to a comprehensive set of rules to govern image creation, including that people in images be fully clothed. We have not seen the image that the AI provided to this user, but out of an abundance of caution we took the website down," the spokesperson confirmed to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.
The spokesperson did not confirm when they first heard of the issue. He also did not explain why Washington's Lottery waited until after my inquiry before turning the site offline.
Megan is pleased the site has been removed. She says she hopes any back-end settings that need to be adjusted are, in fact, adjusted.
UPDATE: 4/2/24, 7:38 p.m.
A spokesman for Washington's Lottery sent the following statement to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH Tuesday night:
We heard about this earlier this week. As soon as we did, we had the developers check all the parameters for the platform and were comfortable with the settings, but after further internal discussions today, we chose to take down the site out of an abundance of caution, as we don't want something like this purported event to happen again.