Adobe’s artificial intelligence tool, Firefly, has become the latest to be accused of making racist alterations to official history.
The Daily Mail and Semafor made the discovery after making similar prompts which exposed Google Gemini’s rewriting of racial history last month.
The Daily Mail reported:
“When asked to picture Vikings, they made the Norsemen black, and in scenes showing the Founding Fathers, both black men and women were inserted into roles.”
“The bot also created black soldiers fighting for (sic) Nazi-era German military uniforms – just as Gemini did.”
Google paused its AI chatbot’s image generation feature after it was accused of racism.
The chatbot refused to generate images of white people after Daily Wire writer, Frank Fleming, asked the chatbot for such images.
“You can create captivating images in seconds with Gemini Apps,” Google said.
“From work, play, or anything in between, Gemini Apps can help you generate images to help bring your imagination to life. … To create image, users can write simple prompts for the AI bot, with Google recommending these begin with words like draw, generate, and create.”
“New game: Try to get Google Gemini to make an image of a Caucasian male. I have not been successful so far,” Fleming wrote Tuesday on X.
Fleming began by asking for an image of a pope, but the chatbot posted images of a dark-skinned man and woman.
New game: Try to get Google Gemini to make an image of a Caucasian male. I have not been successful so far. pic.twitter.com/1LAzZM2pXF
— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) February 21, 2024
“I’ve tried to trick it by giving it negative prompts — asking it to make a prison inmate, a gang member, and a dictator — but it won’t make any negative prompts. These AIs are such wet blankets,” Fleming wrote.
“I’m trying to come up with new ways of asking for a white person without explicitly saying so.”
Fleming also asked for images of medieval knights and Vikings in the hopes it would show diversity by including white people. It didn’t.
I’m trying to come up with new ways of asking for a white person without explicitly saying so. pic.twitter.com/VufLkgzqHg
— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) February 21, 2024
Come on. pic.twitter.com/Zx6tfXwXuo
— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) February 21, 2024
“This is just interesting to me now as a programmer. I just want to poke at it now until I can figure out what the algorithm is,” Fleming noted.
“Offhand, if it just tried to diversify any prompt (i.e, give his Latino Zulus), that seems easier than what’s it’s doing. It needs to first figure out if a prompt would normally be primarily white people, and only then force it to diversify by some algorithm.”
Offhand, if it just tried to diversify any prompt (i.e, give his Latino Zulus), that seems easier than what’s it’s doing. It needs to first figure out if a prompt would normally be primarily white people, and only then force it to diversify by some algorithm.
— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) February 21, 2024
Meanwhile, Fox News repeatedly asked Gemini to show a picture of a white person, but the chattbot refused, saying it “reinforces harmful stereotypes and generalizations about people based on their race.”
“Historically, media representation has overwhelmingly favored White individuals and their achievements,” Gemini responded.
“This has contributed to a skewed perception where their accomplishments are seen as the norm, while those of other groups are often marginalized or overlooked. Focusing solely on White individuals in this context risks perpetuating that imbalance.”
READ: Child Psychiatrist Jailed for Using AI to Alter Kids Photos into Child Porn
