Google halts Gemini's ability to generate images after criticism

ISTANBUL - Google announced on Thursday that it is temporarily suspending the ability of its artificial intelligence (AI) model, Gemini, to generate images after receiving criticism on social media platforms, reported Anadolu Agency (AA).

The US-based tech company faced criticism after the AI chatbot created historically inaccurate images, depicting people of colour in place of white people.

Other historically inaccurate images generated included Black Vikings, women hockey players in the men's professional National Hockey League, and non-white US founding fathers, according to social media posts.

"We're already working to address recent issues with Gemini's image generation feature. While we do this, we're going to pause the image generation of people and will re-release an improved version soon," wrote Google Communications on X.

The suspension comes one day after Google stated that it was "aware that Gemini is offering inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions."

"We're working to improve these kinds of depictions immediately. Gemini’s AI image generation does generate a wide range of people. And that’s generally a good thing because people around the world use it. But it’s missing the mark here," the company added on X late Wednesday.

Gemini, formerly known as Bard, started offering text-to-image generative features earlier this month. - BERNAMA-ANADOLU