An AI-generated image of a rat with unfeasibly large genitals made it into a peer-reviewed article, along with the caption 'dck'

Ordinarily, a scientific article entitled «cellular functions of spermatogonial stem cells in relation to JAK/STAT signaling pathway» would, at best, not gather a huge readership. However, when the article in question is furnished with clearly AI-generated imagery, one of which features a rat with a quite frankly astonishingly large set of genitals, well, that'll do it folks.

The article was authored by three researchers in China, in corresponding authorship with the Dingjun Hao of Xi'am Hongui hospital, and published online in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology (via Ars Technica). However, those that took a closer look at the piece once it was published were astonished to discover an image of a rat with a penis and testicles so large, even the rat itself seems to be looking on in surprise.

While the unfortunate rodent certainly captured the attention, imagination and scorn of <a data-analytics-id=«inline-link» href=«https://twitter.com/search?q=AI%20rat%20frontiers&src=typed_query&f=top» target="_blank" data-url=«https://twitter.com/search?q=AI%20rat%20frontiers&src=» https:>Twitter

, it was far from the only obvious sign of AI-imagery that had inexplicably made it into a supposedly peer-reviewed work. The rat penis itself is labelled «dissliced», which my spell-check and a quick online dictionary referral confirms is not a word, while another image is helpfully labelled 'dck', although mercifully doesn't appear to feature one.

Other AI-mislabelling hiccups include a misspelling of «stemm cells» and a label pointing towards the rats posterior labelled «Testtomcels», which again I had to search to make sure it wasn't an actual scientific term. Then again, I'm not a peer reviewing this article, so I guess I'm off the hook. Those that were, perhaps should have checked a little more carefully.

Ah go on, we'll show you the image now. Those of a more delicate disposition may wish to avoid the tweet below.

I can not stress this enough, unregulated