Google halts AI tool's ability to produce images of people after ...
Google has decided to pause its artificial intelligence tool, Gemini’s, capability to generate images of people following criticism on social media. The tool had been under fire for creating images that were historically inaccurate, predominantly depicting people of color in lieu of White individuals.
This incident highlights the ongoing challenges that AI tools face when it comes to dealing with the concept of race. Other AI platforms, such as OpenAI’s Dall-E image generator, have also faced scrutiny for perpetuating harmful racial and ethnic stereotypes at a large scale.
Struggles with Race in AI
AI tools like Gemini and ChatGPT rely on extensive datasets from the internet for their training. However, experts have long cautioned that these tools could potentially replicate the racial and gender biases present in the data they are trained on.
For instance, when prompted by CNN to generate an image of a pope, Gemini produced an image featuring individuals who were not White. Similarly, requests for images such as a “1943 German Soldier” also yielded pictures of people of color.
Google's Response
In response to the criticism, Google stated that they are already working on addressing the issues with Gemini's image generation feature. As a temporary measure, they have decided to halt the generation of images of people and plan to release an improved version soon.
The company's lead product director for Gemini, Jack Krawczyk, mentioned that Google intentionally designs the image generation capabilities to cater to a global user base. However, the recent blunders indicate that there are still significant challenges to overcome in this aspect.
Setbacks for Google
This incident marks another setback for Google in the competitive realm of generative AI. The company had rebranded its generative AI tool as Gemini, previously known as Bard. However, early demonstrations of the tool, including one that inaccurately responded to a question about the James Webb Space Telescope, have drawn criticism.
Google's decision to pause the image generation feature of Gemini showcases the complexities involved in developing AI tools that are sensitive to issues of race and ethnicity.
For more information and updates, you can visit CNN.com
