Shame on Philosophical Transactions B for using slop covers

Hat tip to Natalia Jagielska for pointing out that the latest cover of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B is ChatGPT generated slop.

Not only in AI yellow but scientifically nonsensical. Come on.

But then things got worse. Alexis Verger pointed out they had used ChatGPT for the cover of their previous issue. Again, it is obviously wrong. The spinal cord leads directly to the lungs? No. Just no.

And then I went and looked at the archive and found the another ChatGPT cover.

So of the journals last four issues, three were AI slop covers made by ChatGPT.

It should be an embarrassment for the journal. I would have rather a plain cover with no imagery at all instead of this. 

Even the non-slop covers were not that impressive. Most of them are stock photos. I cannot help but think that many scientists probably have some some of relevant pictures they have taken for their slides, posters, and so on. Why not use those?

This is another example of how scientists don’t take graphics seriously. 

Anyway, I am off to email the journal.

External links 

AI-generated rat image shows that scientific graphics are undervalued