Google announced on Thursday that it is temporarily halting its Gemini artificial intelligence chatbot from creating images of people following concerns over inaccuracies in historical depictions. This decision comes after users shared screenshots on social media showing racially diverse characters in historically white-dominated scenes generated by the chatbot.
The company acknowledged the issues and expressed its commitment to addressing them promptly. Google stated that it is currently working on improving the image generation feature of Gemini and plans to release an enhanced version in the near future.
Research has indicated that AI image-generators can perpetuate racial and gender stereotypes present in their training data. Without proper filters, these systems tend to favor generating images of lighter-skinned men in various scenarios.
Google admitted that Gemini had been providing inaccurate historical image depictions and assured users that corrective measures are being implemented without delay. The company emphasized the importance of offering a diverse range of images but acknowledged that the current output was not meeting expectations.
When asked to generate pictures of people, Gemini responded that it is actively working on enhancing this capability and anticipates reintroducing the feature soon. Users can expect to receive updates on the progress of these improvements through release notifications.
