Microsoft engineer Shane Jones has raised concerns about the safety of OpenAI’s DALL-E 3, suggesting that the product has security vulnerabilities that make it easy to create violent or sexually explicit images. He alleges that Microsoft's legal team has blocked his attempts to alert the public to the issue.

Jones has taken his complaint directly to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging them to take action. In a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan, Jones wrote that he had repeatedly urged Microsoft to remove Copilot Designer from public use until better safeguards could be put in place. He is now asking the company to add disclosures to the product to alert consumers to the alleged danger and change the rating on the app to ensure it is only for adult audiences.

Jones has also written a separate letter to Microsoft's board of directors, urging them to initiate an independent review of the company's responsible AI incident reporting processes.

Jones claims that Microsoft's implementation of DALL-E 3 can easily create violent or sexual imagery. He says it is possible to "trick" the platform into generating the grossest and most unsavory images imaginable. He points out that even innocuous prompts can result in disturbing images, such as demons feasting on infants or sexualized women in car accidents. These issues have been replicated by CNBC using the standard version of the software.