Meta’s AI-powered image generator is riddled with racial bias, according to journalists and creators.
In an article for The Verge, reporter Mia Satto tried to generate images of Asian people with Caucasian spouses and friends. She used various prompts and combinations, such as “Asian man and white wife” and “Asian man and Caucasian friend.”
But despite performing “dozens” of tests, the generator only returned a white man with an Asian woman once. In addition, the AI kept returning images of East Asian people, demonstrating a lack of South Asian representation.
“The image generator not being able to conceive of Asian people standing next to white people is egregious,” the journalist added. “Once again, generative AI, rather than allowing the imagination to take flight, imprisons it within a formalization of society’s dumber impulses.”
Creators online were more direct about Meta’s “racist” generative AI tool.
“AI is the worst of us,” one creator wrote on Twitter, responding to Satto’s article. Another added, “I want to write something about this, but I don’t even know where to begin.” Similarly, a third remarked that this was “insane.”
Another said about the Meta story, “Thank you for putting in the spotlight an often overlooked of why AI sucks: it is so incredibly fucking racist.”
Further reading:
