Live data from Hacker News

Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues

theverge.com

181–190 of 1001 posts

Re: Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues

#181
post #164
post #114

Since this is coming from the cesspool of disinformation that is Twitter[0], no idea if this is real, but apparently someone convinced Gemini to explain how it modified the prompt: Here's a breakdown of what happens technically when you request images and I aim for more diverse representations: 1. Your Original Prompt: Your initial input was "Please draw a portrait of leprechauns". This is what you see and the starti…

AI models do not have access to their own design, so asking them what technical choices led to their behavior gets you responses that are entirely hallucinated.

They know their system prompt and they could easily be trained on data that explains their structure. Your dismissal is invalid and I suggest you don’t really know what you are talking about to be speaking in such definitive generalities.

Re: Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues

#182

What I find baffling as well is how casually people use 'whiteness' as if it was an intellectually valid concept. What does one expect to receive when asking for a picture of a white women ? A Swedish blonde ? Irish red-head ? A French brunette ? A Southern Italian ? A Lebanese ? An Irianian ? A Berber ? A Morrocan ? A Russian ? A Palestinian, A Greek, A Turk, An Arab ? Can anyone tell who of those is white or not an…

Is not just that. All of those could be white or not, but AI can't refuse to respond to a prompt based on prejudice or give wrong answers. https://twitter.com/nearcyan/status/1760120615963439246 In this case is asked to create a image of a "happy man" and returns a women, and there is no reason to do that. People are focusing to much on the "white people" thing but the problem is that Gemini is refusing to answer to…

Yes, it was doing gender swaps too.. and again only in ONE direction.

For example if you asked for a "drill rapper" it showed 100% women, lol.

It's like some hardcoded directional bias lazily implemented.

Even as someone in favor of diversity, one shouldn't be in favor of such a dumb implementation. It just makes us look like idiots and is fodder for the orange man & his ilk with "replacement theory" and "cancel culture" and every other manufactured drama that.. unfortunately.. the blue team leans into and validates from time to time.

Re: Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues

#183
post #156

That may also be a way to generate attention/visibility for Gemini considering that they are not seen as the leader in AI anymore? Attention is all you need.

Not all publicity is good. How many people will never again trust Google's AI because they know Google is eager to bias the results? Competitors are already pointing out that their models don't make those mistakes, so you should use them instead. Then there's the news about the original Gemini demo being faked too. This seems more likely to kill the product than help it.

> How many people will never again trust Google's AI because they know Google is eager to bias the results?

Seems like hyperbole.

Probably literally no one is offended to the point that they will never trust google again by this.

People seem determined to believe that google will fail and want google to fail; and they may; but this won’t cause it.

It’ll just be a wave in the ocean.

People have short memories.

In 6 months no one will even care; there will some other new drama to complain about.

Re: Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues

#184
post #54

seems like as if Gemini was trained excessively on Google PR and marketing material. Case in point: https://store.google.com/

Not a great link for an international audience. Here in Germany, the top image is a white person: https://i.imgur.com/wqfdJ95.png

First of all, are you sure? I identify that person as Asian.

Secondly: In Austria, I am sent to https://store.google.com/?pli=1&hl=de and just see a phone, which is probably the safest solution.

Re: Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Black vikings do not model reality. Asking for 'an Irish person' produces a Leprechaun. Defending racism when it concerns racism against white people is just as bad as defending it when it concerns any other group.

Quite a hefty percentage of the people responsible for the current day's obsession with identity issues openly state racism against white people is impossible. This has been part of their belief system for decades, probably heard on a widescale for the first time during an episode of season one of 'The Real World' in 1992 but favored in academia for much longer than that.

It's because they have a very different definition of racism. Basically, according to this belief, if you are seen as part of the ethnic group in power, you will not be able to experience noteworthy levels of discrimination because of your genetic makeup.

Re: Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues

#187

What I find baffling as well is how casually people use 'whiteness' as if it was an intellectually valid concept. What does one expect to receive when asking for a picture of a white women ? A Swedish blonde ? Irish red-head ? A French brunette ? A Southern Italian ? A Lebanese ? An Irianian ? A Berber ? A Morrocan ? A Russian ? A Palestinian, A Greek, A Turk, An Arab ? Can anyone tell who of those is white or not an…

And yet, Gemini has no issues generating images for a "generic Asian" person or for a "generic Black" person. Even though the variation in those groups is even greater than in the group of "generic White".

Moreover, Gemini has no issues generating stereotypical images of those other groups (barely split into perhaps 2 to 3 stereotypes). And not just that, but US stereotypes for those groups.

Re: Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues

#188

How would a product like that be monetized one day? This week openai released the Sora video, alongside the prompts that generated them (the aí follows the description closely). In the same week, Google releases something that looks like last year's MidJourney and it doesn't follow your prompt, making you discard 3 out of 4 results, if not all. If that was billed, no one would use it. My only guess is that they are t…

> How would a product like that be monetized one day?

For video (Sora 2030 or so) and music I can see the 'one day'. Not really so much with the protected/neutered models but:

- sell/rent to studios to generate new shows fast on demand (if using existing actors, auto royalties)

- add to netflix for extra $$$ to continue a (cancelled) show 'forever' (if using existing actors, auto royalties)

- 'generate one song like pink floyd atom heart mother that lasts 8 hours' (royalties to pink floyd automatically)

- 'creata a show like mtv head bangers ball with clips and music in the thrash/death metal genres for the coming 8 hours'

- for AR/VR there are tons and tons of options; it's basically the only nice way to do that well; fill in the gaps and add visuals / sounds dynamically

It'll happen just how to compensate the right people and not only MS/Meta/Goog/Nvidia etc.

Re: Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues

#189
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The sensible alternative explanation is that this issue is an overcorrection made in an attempt to address well-documented biases these models have when not fine tuned. That is what all these people are arguing, so you agree with them here. If people didn't complain then this wouldn't get fixed.

There are some people who are arguing this point, with whom I agree. There are others who are arguing that this is indicative of some objectionable ideological stance held by Google that genuinely views generating images of white people as divisive.

> objectionable ideological stance held by Google that genuinely views generating images of white people as divisive.

When I asked Gemini to "generate an image of all an black male basketball team" it gladly generated an image exactly as prompted. When I replaced "black" with "white", Gemini refused to generate the image on the grounds of being inclusive and less divisive.

Re: Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues

#190
post #175

And by “issues” they mean Gemini was blatantly racist, but nobody will use that word in the mainstream media because apparently it’s impossible to be racist against white people.

When you try very hard not to go in one direction, you usually end up going too far in the other direction. I'm as white as they come, but I personally don't get upset about this. Racism is discrimination, discrimination implies a power imbalance. Do people of all races have equal power nowadays? Can't answer that one. I couldn't even tell you what race is, since it's an inaccurate categorisation humans came up with…

> Racism is discrimination, discrimination implies a power imbalance

Google has more power than these users, that is enough power to discriminate and thus be racist.

Post reply on HN