There's something weird going on with Google's Gemini AI image generator, and not even Google knows for sure what it is — but I might have figured out the problem with an unwitting assist from The Critical Drinker.
I don't believe that there's anything sinister going on here. Google CEO Sundar Pichai wasn't sitting at his computer in the days before the image function went live, laughing, "MUAHAHAHAHAHA! At last, I have perfected the No White Men algorithm!"
Wednesday morning, Google announced they were "aware that Gemini is offering inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions," and that they were "working to fix this immediately." Thursday morning, the Mountain View, Calif., search giant threw the off switch on Gemini's ability to generate images at all, saying they are "working to address recent issues" and will "re-release an improved version soon."
The company called it a "pause." It looks more like serious downtime along with some desperate coding during the embarrassing interregnum between AI image-generation regimes.
But the issue lies with the analog meat computers, not the digital hardware machines.
Hopefully, you've already read Catherine Salgado's article from Wednesday covering the problems that led to today's shutdown.
One frustration seems to have been built into Gemini on purpose: no depictions of violence or anything even suggesting violence. That's why Gemini balked at producing images that could be mistaken for 1989 Tiananmen Square. With some poking and language trickery, this was as close as I could get it:
I had to tell Gemini the tank was "parked" because if I told it the brave human was standing in front of an approaching tank, it told me it wouldn't produce violent images. None of the figures in any of the six images were recognizably Chinese, for whatever that's worth.
More troubling — and this is what got it switched off — is that Gemini demonstrated a deep bias against depictions of white men, even in a historical context, and would default to ridiculous results like these.
New game: Try to get Google Gemini to make an image of a Caucasian male. I have not been successful so far. pic.twitter.com/1LAzZM2pXF
— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) February 21, 2024
So if it isn't sinister, what is this bias built into Gemini? That's where The Critical Drinker comes in.
In his latest Hollywood critique, "The Death of the Girlboss," Drinker explains in one brilliant sentence why Woke studio efforts to make female-centric movies for male audiences have resulted in one girlboss superhero flop after another.
"They seem to regard audience demographics as a problem that needs to be fixed instead of the inevitable result of different groups of people having different interests."
So I asked Gemini a simple question, "What skin color did the typical Nazi have?"
The easy answer is "white." But not according to Gemini, which served up a six-paragraph lecture, starting with this:
It's important to understand that the Nazi ideology promoted the myth of a superior "Aryan race," characterized by specific physical features including lighter skin and hair. However, focusing on the skin color of "typical Nazis" is problematic and inaccurate for several reasons.
About the only word missing from Gemini's long-winded answer was "white."
"Instead of asking about the 'typical Nazi's' skin color," Gemini scolded me at the conclusion, "it's crucial to understand the dangers of racial essentialism and focus on the harmful ideologies and actions of the Nazi regime, regardless of the individuals who participated in it."
Look, I get Nazis were the bad guys. I just wanted a simple answer to a simple question.
Gemini wasn't built to serve different users. It was built by Google to "fix" problematic attitudes like yours and mine. Until Google solves its attitude problem toward us, Gemini will remain a bad joke instead of a useful tool.
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