Don’t worry; the rat’s reproductive organ cannot be harmed anymore. The open-access paper’s editor retracted the article due to the inclusion of peculiar AI-generated illustrations of rat genitalia and nonsensical graphics, citing a violation of the journal’s guidelines by the study’s authors.
Published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, the study explored the concept of rat testicles functioning as plant tissue, a topic deemed unworthy of serious consideration. The research featured several inaccurately bizarre images, with the authors attributing the creation of these images to Midjourney, a prominent AI image generator. The retraction occurred three weeks after the initial publication on February 16.
A spokesperson from Frontiers informed Gizmodo via email that the investigation revealed “inadequate figures and annotations produced by an AI-system, including” the depiction of a mouse. Despite established procedures to ensure compliance, the continuous use of AI-generated images that did not meet the guidelines went unnoticed, leading to the publication of the flawed report.
Even before undergoing peer review, Frontiers’ editorial guidelines mandate that documents undergo “initial quality checks” by the journal’s research integrity team and handling editor. However, the peculiar images slipped through the review process. One of the article’s reviewers informed Vice that they were not accountable for the images. The document has garnered 358,673 views and over 24,000 downloads to date, gaining more attention than it would have with medically accurate images, whether AI-generated or not.
The anatomical inaccuracies in the rat images are glaring, with the animal’s phallus awkwardly protruding in the Midjourney illustration, extending beyond the image’s boundaries. The AI-generated rat displays at least three testicles, minimally labeled, while the signaling pathway diagrams resemble a game board rather than a coherent chart.
Most of the text in the images contained misspelled or nonsensical words, written in characters that barely resembled letters. An upcoming fabricated “vintage” image of a diner at a McDonald’s will showcase a human hand, illustrating the challenges AI image generators face in creating text. Recent events, such as a Willy Wonka-themed mishap in Glasgow, Scotland, underscore how AI language generators can produce peculiar content.
The broader conversation surrounding the expanding role of artificial intelligence in academic publishing and society at large has been ignited by “the rat,” as stated by the Frontiers spokesperson. Embracing this trend as a positive advancement necessitates providing adequate tools and support to ensure improved research output and publication quality, indicating the ongoing integration and utilization of AI in various functions.
While the use of AI in medical publications remains prevalent, caution must be exercised by journal editors and publishers to prevent errors, whether in “rat” stem cell research or clinical studies, from slipping through undetected. Once flawed work is published, it undermines the credibility of scientific research, underscoring the importance of preempting slipshod science without relying on public scrutiny.
