03/01/2024

The AI Culture Wars are Just Beginning

Expect political fights over AI to worsen as the techn becomes more capable

Google was forced to turn off the image-generation capabilities of its latest AI model, Gemini, last week after complaints that it defaulted to depicting women and people of color when asked to create images of historical figures that were generally white and male, including vikings, popes, and German soldiers. The company publicly apologized and said it would do better. And Alphabet’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, sent a mea culpa memo to staff on Wednesday. "I know that some of its responses have offended our users and shown bias," it reads. "To be clear, that’s completely unacceptable, and we got it wrong."

Google’s critics have not been silenced, however. In recent days conservative voices on social media have highlighted text responses from Gemini that they claim reveal a liberal bias. On Sunday, Elon Musk posted screenshots on X showing Gemini stating that it would be unacceptable to misgender Caitlyn Jenner even if this were the only way to avert nuclear war. "Google Gemini is super racist and sexist," Musk wrote.

A source familiar with the situation said that some within Google feel that the furor reflects how norms about what it is appropriate for AI models to produce are still in flux. The company is working on projects that could reduce the kinds of issues seen in Gemini in the future, the source said.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.