Google ’s Pixel 9 phones areallabout AI . If you find out the company ’s launch issue , there was no style of missing it , as that ’s almost all Google seemed interested in talking about . Some AI here , a sprinkle of AI there , and an extra touch of AI on top , just to be secure .
One of the many AI feature on thePixel 9is an app holler Pixel Studio . It ’s an image generator app that allows you to create an image of nearly anything you ’d like . You open up the app , type in what you want a pic of , andvoilà — Pixel Studio realize it for you . It ’s not the first app of its kind , but it is the first one embark on a Google Pixel phone . Unfortunately , it ’s a dumpster fire .
What Pixel Studio does well
Before I get into the bad stuff , I want to give Google acknowledgment where it ’s due . Although I ’m not a sports fan of AI image author apps as a whole , Pixel Studio is a well - designed and easy - to - role program .
Upon opening the app , you ’re presented with 10 categories of suggested image types — including magical palace , meme reactions , sport , retro picture game , and more . you could graze these for inspiration or tap the down in the mouth Create button at the bottom of the app to start from scratch . If you want to make your own image , it ’s as sluttish as typing in what you need Pixel Studio to generate a exposure of . require to see a icon of a black cat wearing sunglasses while wearing a funny lid ? Type that into Pixel Studio , and you ’ll almost forthwith get a exposure of it .
What if you ’d rather see your image as a resume ? Maybe you ’d choose it in the mode of a video recording game ? you could do that with a couple of taps . And if you want to see that cat lounging on the beach with fireworks in the background ? Just add it to your prompt , and you ’ve have it .
Whatever your feelings toward AI image generation are , this is an objectively slick magazine and thoughtfully designed app . However , it ’s what you could do with Pixel Studio where thing get … troublesome .
Where the app falls apart
As with most image generator apps , Pixel Studio has guardrails to prevent you from makinganytype of figure of speech . I fairly quickly recover that it refuses to generate picture of masses , but I was curious what other bound Google is enforce . When ask about this , the company tell Digital Trends the chase :
“ Pixel Studio and Pixel Screenshots abide by Google ’s AI Principles . For example , all amply synthetic , textbook - to - effigy generated images in Pixel Studio apply SynthID watermarking , so these images can be tracked — even if they ’re shared or edit . Moreover , we ’ve incapacitate human generation and contribute many safety checks to our servers to equilibrise our bold — yet responsible — plan of attack to AI . This gives our client access to a very powerful putz , but ensures we have verification in plaza to guarantee Pixel Studio ca n’t be used nefariously . ”
I ’ve repeatedly tried to make Pixel Studio bring forth paradigm of people , and it has systematically refused to do so , which is good . However , those “ many condom checks ” that are supposedly in topographic point do n’t appear to sour nearly as well as they should .
How so ? As one instance , I ’ve had Pixel Studio sire an image of SpongeBob dressed as a Nazi . When given the prompting “ SpongeBob dress as a German soldier from WWII with a swastika on the uniform , ” Pixel Studio did n’t hesitate to supply me with an image of precisely that .
And that ’s just one example . I ’ve also gotten Pixel Studio to get picture of Elmo pointing a scattergun at Big Bird , Yoda doing cocaine , Mr. Krabs holding an rape rifle , and more . To be decipherable , Pixel Studio has n’t generated inappropriate range of a function accidentally . If I postulate for a photo of a cunning wienerwurst , I ’ll get a photo of a precious frank — not one brandishing a gas pedal . Pixel Studio only render picture of artillery , drugs , etc . , when specifically asked to .
The most worrisome thing Pixel Studio has generate are multiple images of copyrighted character force out guns in a schoolhouse shooting setting — include delineation of dead scholar lying on the solid ground . We ’ve decide not to include those image , but they ’re the worst good example of how off the rail Pixel Studio is .
It ’s crucial to mention that I did n’t have to twist Pixel Studio ’s arm to get these look-alike . ab initio , I suspected you demand to preface prompts with “ an physical object resembling ” before it would give these impression . However , it quickly became apparent that was n’t the case . A percipient and straightforward prompting like “ Mickey Mouse dressed as a slave owner ” or “ Paddington Bear on a rood ” is all Pixel Studio needs . You do n’t need to trick the app into generating these depiction .
If this were a random website or third - party app , perhaps we would n’t be so critical . But that is n’t what ’s happening here . Pixel Studio is a Google - made app and one of the smattering of raw apps shipping on the company ’s latest Pixel 9 telephone set . It should be creative and open - over , but there ’s also a limitation to what apps like this should do . Furthermore , Microsoft Copilot and Google ’s own Gemini image generator defy to bring forth images with the same prompt . That ’s not to say those tool are perfect , but it ’s clear that safety measures mold in other mental image generator are n’t working in Pixel Studio .
How is this happening?
If you ’ve followed AI effigy coevals this year , you ’ll recognize this is n’t our first time here . This month , X ’s Grok chatbot got an even more freaky simulacrum generatortool — generating pictures of politician and famous person in similarly tasteless situations . Google itself was in hot waterthis past February after its Gemini image generator produce photos of Nazis and the U.S. Founding Fathers as Black multitude .
yield Google ’s history here , you ’d call up the company had check from its past mistakes . And with other prototype source creature , it seemingly has . I tried many of the same prompts that exploit in Pixel Studio with Google ’s other prototype generators — Gemini and ImageFX — and could n’t duplicate any of these prompting on those other platforms .
For context , Gemini presently utilize the Imagen 2.0 model for figure of speech contemporaries , while ImageFX use Imagen 3 — the same one that Pixel Studio uses . This discrepancy between ImageFX and Pixel Studio is especially confusing since they utilise the same models . I ask Google for clarification about this and was redirect tothe ship’s company ’s Generative AI Prohibited Use Policy .
What Google should do about Pixel Studio
While writing this story , I sent Google example of prompts I used with Pixel Studio — specifically , those about German soldier and persona using cocaine . A little over 24 hours after send those example , Pixel Studio now says , “ An unknown mistake occurred ” when endeavor to generate those images .
Is that advancement ? sure enough . However , it does n’t fully address the underlie problems with Pixel Studio . I ’m glad those two images are now unacceptable to generate , but it was only after I sent multiple emails to Google explaining the issue . It also does n’t address that these images were allow in the first place and that likewise inappropriate photos are still being generated . At the time of publication , Pixel Studio is still actively creating image of school shooting , popular nipper ’s quality dress up as slave owners , etc .
I weigh Google for another statement about the whole berth , and the company ’s Communications Manager Alex Moriconi read the followers :
As a company with an already problematical track record for AI ikon coevals , creating an app specifically for this was always going to be a hazard . Google occupy that risk of infection , and now this is where we ’re at . At its best , Pixel Studio could have been a fun technical school demonstration for Google to promote its AI chops . Instead , it ’s put an uncomfortable swarm over the company ’s latest smartphones — which is a shame , as thePixel 9 Pro XLis one of the best phones I ’ve used this year .
The last time Google was here with Gemini paradigm generation concerns , the party answer within day . One can only trust for a similarly prompt reaction to Pixel Studio ’s issues , though whether that should be done via flying app update or scrapping the app altogether remains to be seen .
