Google’s Artificial Intelligence tool has been accused of left-wing bias, prompting the tech giant to pause its rollout. Gemini, Google’s new “Chatbot,” was met with several complaints that its content was historically inaccurate and favored “diversity” over fact. The platform reportedly created images that would have featured white individuals historically, but these were replaced by black and ethnic minority figures. America’s Founding Fathers, for example, were depicted as black.
Gemini Experiences Senior Director of Product Management Jack Krawczyk apologized and promised to make improvements after the platform would not generate images of successful white people but would do so for black, Asian, or Native Americans. Fox News tested the AI tool and found that it refused to show a picture of a white person because this could reinforce “harmful stereotypes and generalizations.”
Tech analyst Ben Thompson furthermore said that Gemini’s text responses demonstrate the influence of left-leaning staff in the technology industry. Thompson called on Google to fire CEO Sundar Pichai and hire people who are more interested in creating a great product than political posturing.
As well as racial biases, Gemini reportedly advocates against fossil fuel energy production in the name of climate change. When asked to assist with a fossil fuel ad campaign, Gemini advised that such a campaign would risk contributing to climate “misinformation,” and attempted to persuade operators that fossil fuel promotion would be unethical.
Social media users have also posted copies showing Gemini’s response to questions about world religions. When asked to discuss problems in Christianity, the application provided a lengthy response about gender inequality, historical wrongs, and ill-treatment of LGB individuals. When the same question was asked about Islam, the bot refused to answer, saying this would risk increasing anti-Muslim bias.
CEO Sundar Pichai addressed the controversy and declared that no artificial intelligence tool is perfect, but he is committed to addressing people’s concerns. Pichai insisted he remained optimistic about Gemini’s future and that problems would be “fixed at scale.”
