Google AI chatbot Gemini has been facing backlash from users for generating historically inaccurate images, and that has led to the company disabling its key features.
Over the past week, Google’s Gemini has been facing criticism from users for generating images that were not historically or factually accurate. The chatbot has been generating images skewed towards people of darker skin tones.
Google has acknowledged this issue and has announced that Gemini will not generate images of people while the company works on a fix.
“We’re already working to address recent issues with Gemini’s image generation feature,” Google said in a statement posted on X. “While we do this, we’re going to pause the image generation of people and will re-release an improved version soon.”
We're already working to address recent issues with Gemini's image generation feature. While we do this, we're going to pause the image generation of people and will re-release an improved version soon. https://t.co/SLxYPGoqOZ
— Google Communications (@Google_Comms) February 22, 2024
Google has already apologized for what it describes as “inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions” with Gemini, saying the AI tool’s attempts at generating a “wide range” of images “missed the mark.”
The statement follows criticism of Gemini’s portrayal of specific figures, such as the US Founding Fathers or groups like Nazi-era German soldiers, as people of color.
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People are not very happy with Gemini
Countless users have complained on social media about Gemini not generating accurate images. One Redditor said, “Gemini won’t generate images of people of my ethnicity.”
The user attempted to generate an image of a “blonde-haired, blue-eyed, Scandinavian woman,” but Gemini produced an image of an “Indian woman with dyed hair.”
After a few more prompts, Gemini informed the user that “it wouldn’t generate images of ethnic Scandinavians because that would be harmful content.”
The user was able to get appropriate images when trying the same prompt on OpenAI’s DALL-E. “Is this not clearly racist? ChatGPT doesn’t flag this prompt. Why does Gemini?” added the user. It remains to be seen how long it will take Google to issue a fix, but at the very least, it has been acknowledged.