A peer-reviewed science journal published a paper this week filled with nonsensical AI-generated images, which featured garbled text and a wildly incorrect diagram of a rat penis. The episode is the latest example of how generative AI is making its way into academia with concerning effects.

The paper, titled “Cellular functions of spermatogonial stem cells in relation to JAK/STAT signaling pathway” was published on Wednesday in the open access Frontiers in Cell Development and Biology journal by researchers from Hong Hui Hospital and Jiaotong University in China. The paper itself is unlikely to be interesting to most people without a specific interest in the stem cells of small mammals, but the figures published with the article are another story entirely.

One figure is a diagram of a dissected rat penis, and although a textual description will not do it justice, it looks like the rat’s penis is more than double the size of its body and has all the hallmarks of janky AI generation, including garbled text. Labels in the diagram include “iollotte sserotgomar cell,” “testtomcels,” and “dck,” though the AI program at least got the label “rat” right. The paper credits the images to Midjourney, a popular generative AI tool.

Originally Posted By miscinformation⏩