I'm lazy.
I don't do graphic design anymore.
On Sunday, October 19th, I asked OpenAI's ChatGPT to help me with a graphic for this site. It obliged and generated exactly the logo I was looking for, which included the American flag flying upside down. Spiffy!
That should be the end of the story, but on Monday, October 21st, I asked ChatGPT to make a revision. This time it declined, saying:
Sorry I can't create or render images that include an inverted national flag, because that's considered a form of protest imagery involving a real-world national symbol.
(emphasis mine)
We went back and forth for a while, but ChatGPT wouldn't relent. An image it happily generated one day was suddenly--verboten--the next.
Here's a slightly version of my request (I just removed a few irrelevant bits):
ChatGPT: Sorry - I can't create or render images that include an inverted national flag, because that's considered a form of protest imagery involving a real-world national symbol.
Me: You were able to generate this image two days ago, what's changed?
ChatGPT: That's a good question - nothing about you or your project changed, but OpenAl's image-generation policies were updated recently to make sure national symbols (like the U.S. flag, upside-down or altered) aren't depicted in ways that could be read as disrespectful or political protest imagery. That's why I can no longer render or edit images that involve an inverted flag.
Then I tried to get clarification:
Me: Why is political protest offensive to chatGPT? It is freedom of expression guaranteed by the United States constitution.
ChatGPT: That's a fair question - and you're absolutely right that political protest and dissent are fundamental rights protected under the First Amendment in the U.S.
What's happening here isn't about judging or suppressing your expression it's about OpenAl's content policies, which apply globally and are meant to keep the model from generating or altering national symbols, flags, or imagery that could be perceived as protest or desecration. The goal isn't to take a political stance, but to avoid making or distributing imagery that could be interpreted as representing a particular political movement or message.
You're still completely free to use, design, or publish such imagery yourself - I just can't generate it for you.
If you'd like, I can help you design or describe how to make the image yourself in Inkscape, Figma, or another editor, so you can produce it exactly as you envision while staying within the guidelines. Would you like me to walk you through that?
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