Give people the ability to make their own emojis and some will be bound to create the most eyebrow-raising, not-safe-for-work symbols they can imagine.
It’s a lesson Apple is about to learn with the release of Genmoji, an upcoming iPhone feature that lets users concoct AI-generated emojis.
Since its release in beta late last month, the tool has unleashed a gallery of devilish creations, with users whipping up marijuana leaves, guns, and inappropriate aubergines that you probably wouldn’t put in a moussaka.
Surprisingly, for a company so stringent about privacy and security, Apple has given users unfettered access to its emoji dream machine.
In our tests, we found that creating an emoji of a gun was as simple as typing “gun” into the iPhone’s keyboard. The AI then spat out a carousel of pistols for us to choose from and share.
This apparent lapse is particularly striking given that Apple once swapped out the gun emoji for a water pistol to sidestep controversy.
Although a word like “weed” is open to interpretation on paper, Apple’s AI instantly took it to mean a cannabis leaf.
On the other hand, it rejected our requests for aubergines, meaning there are some words on the naughty list. But, it didn’t have a problem with making all sorts of ribald images of eggplants and peaches.
Judging by the reaction the AI is getting online, iPhone users are delighted by the racy results.
“Most of the time you can just type it straight in. Otherwise, you have to get creative and trick it into putting (example) 'white sauce' on top of a peach,” said a Reddit user.
“The second I saw this announced at WWDC I knew it was just going to be an arms race to see what the most absolutely diabolical thing you can get it to generate is,” remarked another user.
Apple is currently previewing Genmoji as part of the iOS 18.2 developer beta, with a public version expected to follow in the software update’s official release in early December.
Like all Apple Intelligence features, the perk is limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max and the iPhone 16 range.
The staggered release is designed to give Apple more time to fine-tune the new tools, which also include an AI that can turn your pics into cartoonish images. That means there’s still time for Apple to reverse course on the unfiltered new perk based on user feedback and activity.
Just don’t blame us if the cheeky stuff ends up getting canned.
