Google has temporarily paused its Gemini AI model from generating images of people after facing backlash over its failure to depict white people. The company stated that while the AI generates a wide range of people, it is “missing the mark” in accurately representing white individuals. Google is working to address the issue and plans to release an improved version soon.
Images generated by Gemini, which predominantly featured people of colour and scenes from history that only involved white people, circulated on social media and sparked outrage. Some users criticized Google for being “woke” at the expense of truth or accuracy. Debarghya Das, the founding engineer of Glean, posted several images generated by Gemini and expressed frustration over the model’s failure to acknowledge the existence of white people.
This controversy adds to Google’s recent setbacks in its rollout of AI products, including a previous apology for misinformation provided by its AI chatbot Bard. AI models have faced criticism in the past for overlooking people of colour and perpetuating stereotypes in their results.