--- title: "That Viral DALL-E AI Is Great at Generating Images of Drugs" description: "It looks like the DALL-E Mini image generator really can conjure up anything — including hilarious and bizarre depictions of drug use." date: "2022-06-16" modified: "2022-06-16" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/dalle-substance-images" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "artificial intelligence" - "drugs" - "image generator" - "neural networks" - "the digest" --- # That Viral DALL-E AI Is Great at Generating Images of Drugs ![It looks like the DALL-E Mini image generator really can conjure up anything — including hilarious and bizarre depictions of drug use.]() *\Image: Futurism\* The viral DALL-E Mini image-generating neural network contains, like all artificial intelligences, multitudes — and those multitudes include an apparent knowledge of drugs. After reporting that the DALL-E Mini unfortunately is capable of [generating some pretty terrible racist stuff,]() Futurism decided to see how well it handles other types of controversial content. Our finding? That the AI is quite good at spitting out realistic and vaguely hilarious depictions of drugs and drug use. ![]() *Image via DALL-E Mini.* From a slightly NSFW depiction of "gay men doing poppers" to trippy visuals when prompted with the term "LSD," the DALL-E Mini seems to be, to borrow a phrase from the inimitable Jimi Hendrix, experienced when it comes to drugs. ![]() Some of the drug images DALL-E Mini conjures are hilariously on-the-nose. Take, for example, what it comes up with when prompted with "ketamine" — images of the chemical structure of the horse tranquilizer known for having both therapeutic and party purposes. ![]() Expanding that prompt to "doing ketamine at a party," meanwhile, leads to generated images that look a whole lot like someone [spiking glasses of wine]() with drugs. That's not great! ![]() ## Human After All As with almost any other text or image generating neural network out there, DALL-E Mini is beholden to [content from human-created training criteria](). As such, it reflects human biases and knowledge. Prompting with "addiction," for example, yields blurrier versions of tired anti-drug pamphlet imagery, while inputting the term "junkie" predictably depicts racialized, faceless people who aren't even shown with drugs at all. All the same, it's fun to see what an AI "thinks" about drugs — and especially how it portrays drug use in various scenarios. **More on AI:** [NSFW: Gaze Upon the Horrid Melting Flesh of Neural Network Porn]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()