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Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues

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

#711

Post by pram »

logicalmonster wrote: post #596

Personally speaking, this is a blaring neon warning sign of institutional rot within Google where shrieking concerns about DEI have surpassed a focus on quality results. Investors in Google (of which I am NOT one) should consider if this is the mark of a company on the upswing or downslide. If the focus of Google's technology is identity rather than reality, it is inevitable that they will be surpassed.

As someone who has spent thousands of dollars on the OpenAI API I’m not even bothering with Gemini stuff anymore. It seems to spend more time telling me what it REFUSES to do than actually doing the thing. It’s not worth the trouble.

They’re late and the product is worse, and useless in some cases. Not a great look.

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

#712

Post by burningion »

hot_gril wrote: post #678
burningion wrote: post #647

Google did giant, fiscally unnecessary layoffs just before AI took off again. They got rid of a giant portion of their most experienced (expensive) employees, signaled more coming to the other talented ones, and took the GE approach to maximizing short term profits over re-investment in the future. Well, it backfired sooner than leadership expected.

I don't think the layoffs have anything to do with this. Most likely, everyone involved in AI was totally safe from it too.

A high performance team is a chaotic system. You can’t remove a piece of it with predictable results. Remove a piece and the whole system may fall apart.

To think the layoffs had no effect on the quality of output from the system seems very naive.

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

#713

Post by vidarh »

stcroixx wrote: post #510
jack_riminton wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of when black people in the UK get called African American by Americans. No they're neither African nor American It's an incredibly self-centered view of the world

What is the preferred term in the UK - African British?

Depends. Usually black if you don't know any more. Black British if you know they are British, but a lot of black people here are born in Africa or the Caribbean, and not all will be pleased to be described as British (some will take active offense, given Britains colonial past) and will prefer you to use their country or African/Caribbean depending on context.

My ex would probably grudgingly accept black British, but would describe herself as black, Nigerian, or African, despite also having British citizenship.

If you're considering how to describe someone who is present, then presumably you have a good reason and can explain the reason and ask what they prefer. If you're describing someone by appearance, 'black' is the safest most places in the UK unless you already know what they prefer.

"Nobody" uses "African British".

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

#714

Post by hot_gril »

burningion wrote: post #712
hot_gril wrote: post #678

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the layoffs have anything to do with this. Most likely, everyone involved in AI was totally safe from it too.

A high performance team is a chaotic system. You can’t remove a piece of it with predictable results. Remove a piece and the whole system may fall apart. To think the layoffs had no effect on the quality of output from the system seems very naive.

Yes, it has some effect on the company. In my opinion, lots of teams had too many cooks in the kitchen. Work has been less painful post-layoffs. However, it doesn't seem like anyone related to Gemini was laid off, and if so, it really is a no-op for them.

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

#715

Post by u32480932048 »

losvedir wrote: post #342

I think this is all a bit silly, but if we're complaining anyway, I'll throw my hat in the ring as an American of Hispanic descent. Maybe I'm just being particularly sensitive, but it seems to me that while people are complaining that your stereotypical "white" folks are erased, and replaced by "diversity", it seems to me the specific "diversity" here is "BIPOC" and your modal Mexican hispanic is being erased, despit…

Hispanic racism is an advanced-level topic that most of the blue-haired know-nothings aren't prepared to discuss because they can't easily construct the requisite Oppression Pyramid. It's easier to lump them in with "Black" (er, "BIPOC") and continue parroting the canned factoids they were already regurgitating.

The ideology is primarily self-serving ("Look at me! I'm a Good Person!", "I'm a member of the in-group!") and isn't portable to contexts outside of the US' history of slavery.

They'd know this if they ever ventured outside the office to talk to the [often-immigrant] employees in the warehouses, etc. A discussion on racism/discrimination/etc between "uneducated" warehouse workers from five different continents is always more enlightened, lively, and subtle than any given group of white college grads (who mostly pat themselves on the back while agreeing with each other).

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

#716

Post by [deleted] »

logicalmonster wrote: post #596

Personally speaking, this is a blaring neon warning sign of institutional rot within Google where shrieking concerns about DEI have surpassed a focus on quality results. Investors in Google (of which I am NOT one) should consider if this is the mark of a company on the upswing or downslide. If the focus of Google's technology is identity rather than reality, it is inevitable that they will be surpassed.

[deleted]

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

#717

Post by pphysch »

djtriptych wrote: post #561
multicast wrote: post #501

We live in times were non-problems are turned into problems. Simple responses should be generated truthfully. Truth which is present in today's data. Most software engineers and CEOs are white and male, almost all US rappers are black and male, most childminder and nurses are female from all kinds of races. If you want the person to be of another race or sex, add it to the prompt. If you want a software engineer from…

is it even true that most software engineers are white and male? We're discarding indian and chinese engineers?

In a recent US job opening for entry level SWE, over 80% of applicants had CS/IT degrees from the Indian subcontinent. /anecdote

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

#718

Post by JumpCrisscross »

verisimi wrote: post #687
aliasxneo wrote: post #544

Quite the cultural flame war in this thread. For me, the whole incident points to the critical importance of open models. A bit of speculation, but if AI is eventually intended to play a role in education, this sort of control would be a dream for historical revisionists. The classic battle of the thought police is now being extended to AI.

No need to distance yourself from historical revisionism. History has always been a tool of the present powers to control the future direction. It is just licensed interpretation. No one has the truth, neither the historical revisionists not the licensed historians.

> No one has the truth, neither the historical revisionists not the licensed historians

This is a common claim by those who never look.

It’s one thing to accept you aren’t bothered to find the truth in a specific instance. And it’s correct to admit some things are unknowable. But to preach broad ignorance like this is intellectually insincere.

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

#719

Post by latency-guy2 »

tczMUFlmoNk wrote: post #660
rosmax_1337 wrote: post #507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is a "lack of diversity" a problem? Do different races have different attributes which complement each other on a team?

Yep, people from different backgrounds bring different experiences and perspectives, which complement each other and make products more useful for more people. Race and gender are two characteristics that lead to pretty different lived experiences, so having team members who can represent those experiences matters.

> people from different backgrounds bring different experiences and perspectives, which complement each other and make products more useful for more people.

Clearly not in this case, so it comes into question how right you think you are.

What is the racial and sexual makeup of the team that developed this system prompt? Should we disqualify any future attempt at that same racial and sexual makeup of team to be made again?

> Race and gender are two characteristics that lead to pretty different lived experiences, so having team members who can represent those experiences matters.

They matter so much, everything else is devalued?

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

#720

Post by orand »

mlrtime wrote: post #419
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" a friend at google said he knew gemini was this bad...but couldn't say anything until today (he DMs me every few days). lots of ppl in google knew. but no one really forced the issue obv and said what needed to be said google is broken " Razib Khan, https://twitter.com/razibkhan/status/1760545472681267521

TBH if I were at Google and they asked all employees to dogfood this product and give feedback, I would not say anything about this. With recent firings why risk your neck?

They should put James Damore in charge of a new ideological red team.
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