It seems like, from the get-go, Google has been having big issues with all of its generative AI products. These require the company to go back and fix them. In the case of Gemini, Google paused image generation of people because it “missed the mark” when it comes to race and gender depiction.
Not too long ago, Google gave Bard the ability to generate images along with text. That functionality remained during the switch over to Gemini. You’re able to ask Gemini to generate images of pretty much anything. However, people are finding that generating images of people, who would historically be Caucasian or male, are resulting in images of people of color and females.
One person asked Gemini to generate an image of founding fathers, but it generated images of people of Asian descent. The founding father’s image also depicted the two people as being extremely modern with casual t-shirts, business-casual buttoned-up shirts, and no powdered wigs (you can’t forget the wigs, Google!). This is just one example.
Google paused image generation of people for Gemini because it missed the mark
The company posted a statement saying that it’s “aware that Gemini is offering inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions.” It’s currently working on improving this and delivering accurate depictions of historical figures.
For the time being, this generation of people has been suspended. If you try to generate an image of a person, you’ll get a message saying “We are working to improve Gemini’s ability to generate images of people. We expect this feature to return soon and will notify you in release updates when it does.”
It appears that Google wanted a more inclusive generative AI experience by allowing more people with different skin tones and genders to be generated. The company gets points for that, as many image generators tend to favor generating Caucasian folks whenever asked to create a human being.
However, the company seems to have overshot it and missed the mark. We’re not quite sure when the ability to generate images of people will return. However, it should hopefully be soon.
2024-02-22 15:05:04