© imageBROKER/Firn
A publisher of scientific journals has seriously gone wrong. An image in a study of a rat with four testicles and a huge penis appeared to be created by artificial intelligence.
It was a serious study by three scientists in Chinese hospitals. They were looking for “cellular functions of spermatogonial stem cells in relation to the JAK/STAT signaling pathway” in rats. Simply explained: they conducted research into the interaction between proteins in a cell. But to illustrate the research, the scientists generated a figure using Midjourney, an AI tool that can convert text into images. And a very remarkable figure emerged.
The AI tool generated a rat with four testicles and a huge penis. Next to the rat are three images of dishes with ‘stem cells’ and a detailed image of the so-called ‘iollotte serotgomar cell’, a term that the AI program came up with itself.
Frontiers, a publisher of scientific journals, published the image. Publisher’s policy does not prohibit the consumption of AI images, provided they are used appropriately. That is highly doubtful in this case.
Not noticed
Frontiers has clearly gone wrong. Two independent scientists had viewed the study before publication, the so-called peer review that scientific research must always undergo. One of those inspectors had expressed concern and reportedly requested an adjustment. But that didn’t happen. Three days after the study was published, it was taken offline again.
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Molecular biologist Elisabeth Bik is very concerned. “If such failed illustrations can pass peer review so easily, more realistic-looking AI-generated figures have probably already infiltrated the scientific literature,” she writes on her web blog.
Frontiers says it is investigating how this could have happened and has issued an apology. “We sincerely apologize to the scientific community for this error and thank our readers who quickly brought this to our attention.”
The figure in the study. Made entirely by artificial intelligence. — © rr
2024-02-19 13:50:38
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