IN FEBRUARY, FREAKOUTS over artificial intelligence took a fun twist. This time, it wasn’t concern that humans are ushering in our robot overlords, panic about AI’s potential to create realistic fakes, or any of the usual fare. It wasn’t really about AI at all, but the humans who create it: woke humans.
The controversy started when @EndWokeness, a popular account on X (formerly Twitter), posted pictures generated by Google’s AI tool, Gemini, for the prompts “America’s Founding Fathers,” “Vikings,” and “the Pope.” The results were all over the people-of-color spectrum, but nary a white face turned up. At least one of the pope images was even a woman.
This is, of course, ahistorical. But for some people, it was worse than that—it was a sign that the folks at Google were trying to rewrite history or, at least, sneak progressive fan fiction into it. (Never mind that Gemini also generated black and Asian Nazi soldiers.)
Google quickly paused Gemini’s ability to generate people. “Gemini image generation got it wrong. We’ll do better,” Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan posted on the Google blog.
Today, when I asked Gemini for a picture of the pope, I got Pope Francis. When I asked for a black Viking, I was told, “We are working to improve Gemini’s ability to generate images of people.” When I asked if it could make a white lady, I was told, “It’s a delicious drink made with gin, orange liqueur, lemon juice, and egg white” or, alternately, that it was not currently possible for it to generate an image of a woman.
Bu hikaye Reason magazine dergisinin June 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Reason magazine dergisinin June 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Gimme Shelter - The U.S. confronts a growing homelessness problem. Does Miami have the answer?
The U.S. confronts a growing homelessness problem. Does Miami have the answer?
AI Is Coming for Hollywood's Jobs
But so is everyone else.
AI Can Do Paperwork Doctors Hate
With help from AI, doctors can focus on patients.
Antitrust May Smother the Power of AI
Left alone, AI could actually help small firms compete with tech giants.
A Brief, Biased History of the Culture Wars
THE FIRST PAR AGR APH of the book jacket lays it out: “There is a common belief that we live in unprecedented times, that people are too sensitive today, that nobody objected to the actions of actors, comedians, and filmmakers in the past.
FAMILIES NEED A VIBE SHIFT
THE AUTHORS OF FOUR NEW BOOKSWITH 24 KIDS BETWEEN THEM-SAY THE AMERICAN FAMILY NEEDS A COURSE CORRECTION.
"The Past Is There To Teach Us What Can Happen'
Hardcore History's Dan Carlin on hero worship and moral assumptions in the study of the past
Cutting Off Israel
ENDING U.S. AID WOULD GIVE WASHINGTON LESS LEVERAGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THAT’S WHY IT’S WORTH DOING.
WHAT CAUSED THE D.C.CRIME WAVE?
GOVERNMENT MISMANAGEMENT, NOT SENTENCING REFORM OR SPARSE SOCIAL SPENDING, DESERVES THE BLAME.
States Turn Their Backs on Criminal Justice Reform
IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE to avoid the “strange bedfellows” cliché when reading about the criminal justice reform movement in the 2010s.