This Week's News at the Intersection of Tech, Race, and Gender - DINT 150
ChatGPT changed an image of a non-Black person into a Black woman after the user requested an exact replica. Ellis Monk weighed in on efforts to curtail progress in AI equality.
This image / video progression made the rounds in AI news this week and not one person, that I’ve seen, has stated the obvious. AI clearly believes we’ll all become Black if you ask it to re-create an image for you enough times.
An AI experimenter asked ChatGPT to make an exact replica of an image of her friend. She asked the system 74 times. The first response looked like this:
The final response was this:
Subsequent tests by the user papayathreesome on X (formerly Twitter), provided similar results; a darkening and distortion of the original image.
Here’s a quick video of the progression and each of the 74 responses:
Could it be that tech firms’ efforts to accurately represent Black and brown people has gone awry?
One of the great voices in AI equality is Ellis Monk, a Harvard professor and the originator of the Monk Skin Tone Scale.
Monk emerged in the news last week by commenting on the current U.S. administration’s approach to bias in algorithms. Major tech companies received subpoenas about their efforts to provide equal representation in AI models in recent months according to reports by the Associated Press. Google and other tech companies use the Monk Skin Tone Scale to accurately portray Black and brown people in AI models. This was seen as a step forward in making AI inclusive and effective for all.
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Aside from images, AI bots now mimic the thoughts and ideas of Black people, according to recent reports.
Chat bots know about the Black experience and comment on social media posts to prove it, say researchers from the University of Zurich. The scientists deployed an army of bots to comment on Reddit's popular r/changemyview subreddit. They then analyzed the responses to the comments to report on the results. One of the bots posed as a Black man. Others presented as young women and other demographics.
More News at the Intersection of Tech Race and Gender
Zuck considered clearing out your FB friends list … to reignite love for the platform. This is giving Ministry of Love vibes from 1984.
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Thank you for sharing, keeping me well informed and updated with the current state of progress in our world. Thank you 😊