Update to Our Community

Yesterday, we released a test system to prevent the generation of certain sexual content that violates our policies, specifically content that may involve depictions or descriptions of minors (for which we have zero tolerance), on the AI Dungeon platform. We did not communicate this test to the Community in advance, which created an environment where users and other members of our larger community, including platform moderators, were caught off guard. Because of this, some misinformation has spread across Discord, Reddit, and other parts of the AI Dungeon community.  As a result, it became difficult to hold the conversations we want to have about what type of content is permitted on AI Dungeon.

From the beginning of AI Dungeon, we have always loved the freedom and creativity that AI-powered gaming enables. It lets users exercise their imaginations, creating unique experiences and stories that have never existed before. We love seeing the amazing things our users create.

We remain true to the principles upon which Latitude was founded, which include promoting freedom of thought and expression through our advanced AI platform. At the same time, we have zero tolerance for sexual content involving minors.

We’re a small company and committed to a creative and thriving community. Allowing such content promotes harm to minors, is inconsistent with our company’s values, and could impact our ability to provide AI Dungeon in the future. The changes we’ve been making are also consistent with OpenAI’s terms of service, which prohibit the display of harmful content, even if an end user specifically asks for such content. We recognize that we can and will take additional steps to meet this standard.

While this test has largely only prevented the AI from generating sexual content involving minors, because of technical limitations it has sometimes prevented the generation of content that it wasn’t intended to. We know that our initial test was not perfect, and we also understand that this can be frustrating.

As a result, we are taking the following steps to address the issues that have been brought to our attention:

• Continuously improve the AI based on feedback to be both fun and welcoming
• Providing a way for users to report false positives so that we can limit the impact on other types of content.
• Inform moderators in advance when platform changes are being implemented
  

In addition to safeguarding freedom of expression, every member of the Latitude team works tirelessly to create a welcoming community environment. The steps that we have outlined above represent our best intentions and efforts at this time to maintain the platform in a way that is welcoming for the largest audience possible.

We have shared responses to some questions you may have at the end of this post, but if you have any other feedback or questions, please reach out to us at support@aidungeon.io.

Questions and Answers

What changes did you make to AI Dungeon?

We are in the process of implementing technical safeguards and policies to support our community guidelines prohibiting sexual content involving minors in AI Dungeon. Additionally, we are updating our community guidelines and policies to clarify prohibited types of user activity.

Why did you make this change?

As a technology company, we believe in an open and creative platform that has a positive impact on the world.  Explicit content involving descriptions or depictions of minors is inconsistent with this value, and we firmly oppose any content that may promote the sexual exploitation of minors. We have also received feedback from OpenAI, which asked us to implement changes.

How will it affect my gameplay?

For the vast majority of players, it shouldn’t. It will only affect your gameplay if you pursue these kinds of inappropriate gameplay experiences.

No system is perfect, and this is still a work in progress, and we are adding systems to let you report if you think a mistake has been made in flagging content from your game.  Conversely, if you think the system has not flagged content it should, please report that using our pre-existing Flag button in the toolbar above the input box.

What kind of content are you preventing?

This test is focused on preventing the use of AI Dungeon to create child sexual abuse material. This means content that is sexual or suggestive involving minors; child sexual abuse imagery; fantasy content (like “loli”) that depicts, encourages, or promotes the sexualization of minors or those who appear to be minors; or child sexual exploitation.

Are you preventing all sexual content or swearing?

AI Dungeon will continue to support other NSFW content, including consensual adult content, violence, and profanity.

Is Latitude reading my unpublished adventures?

We built an automated system that detects inappropriate content. Latitude reviews content flagged by the model for the purposes of improving the model, to enforce our policies, and to comply with law.

How do you plan to prevent future tests and changes from disproportionately impacting underrepresented users?

As a diverse team, many of us have had personal experience with features like reporting being misused against marginalized groups to which we belong. We are aware of the possible misuse of any reporting feature on our platform, especially against underserved and marginalized groups, such as women, LGBTQ individuals, and disabled people, and will be taking reports seriously on a contextual basis.