Bing Image Creator quality has dropped. After testing the feature for several queries, Windows Latest observed that it won’t allow you to create high-quality images as it once did in the past, and it will also restrict you when you use specific terms, such as “short black hair” or any term that the AI could relate with any race or colour.
We can’t have good things, can we? Microsoft said that it’s making Copilot and Bing Image Creator (powered by DALL-E 3) better by bringing over the new models from its partner OpenAI, but is that really the case?
While Copilot and Bing Image Creator may gotten better on paper, Windows Latest has heard from users that quality is now really bad, and content moderation has made it even worse.
For those unaware, Bing Image Creator, which can be accessed from https://www.bing.com/images/create is really nice, and one of the best ways to generate images using AI.
It’s a lot better than Gemini, and some previously found it better than even OpenAI’s built-in integration. Unlike others, Bing Image Creator actually listens to you.
However, this is no longer the case. Bing Image Creator censorship keeps getting worse, and it’s also pissing off creators. Some are considering switching to alternatives as Bing Image Creator is borderline useless for people who truly understand how to use AI to create images.
After recent updates, Bing Image Creator’s generated images could look sharper and lack detail. Images also look lifeless. In the below example, you can probably figure out yourself which was generated before and after the update. Bing’s image in the below example has a face that looks lifeless, and “taxidermized like uncanny mannequins”.
“They just couldn’t help themselves to tinker with it to give the illusion of an upgrade,” one user argued.
Reddit user noted, “The difference is extremely noticeable; I’ve compared thousands of portraits, and now they look lifeless.” Another user stated, “All images have worse lighting, less detail, and are generally inferior in every way.”
As you can see in the above gallery comparing before and after Bing’s DALLE-3 model updates, the older image looks polished and realistic, while the newer one appears weird and cartoonish.
“It is borderline unusable now,” one user said.
Censorship is also worse now. Like if you try to create anything that might make Bing assume you’re creating something for violence, it will immediately replace the prompt with kindness, belonging and wholesome keywords.
Worse, if you’re using Bing Image Creator to create anime images, and you use words like “Short black hair”, it will also lead to content warnings.
Then, we have another issue where Bing Image Creator or Copilot create dog images even when the prompt has nothing to do with animals.
“It feels like the AI assumes you’re unsafe and punishes you with bland results,” one user said.
“It makes very cartoony looking kindergarten images. I’d rather it just block the images than mock me like that, one user argued.
“It’s like they’re actively trying to make their own AI worse,” one user wrote.
“They’re taking the fun out of it,” said one user. “We can’t have good things.”
Many want Microsoft to reconsider its approach, while some believe they need to directly reach out to OpenAI.