Meta’s AI art generator, Imagine, has recently faced controversy similar to that which Google’s Gemini stirred up last week due to its creation of historically inaccurate images. Specifically, when Imagine was asked to produce images of a group of popes or the US founding fathers, the images included a diverse group of individuals, which was criticized as historically inaccurate by users.
However, this issue could potentially be seen as an overcorrection by AI generators that are trying to address their existing biases against women and people of colour. Despite this explanation, many users seemed discontent with the resulting images, with the controversy underlining the challenges associated with correcting inherent bias within AI systems.
Taking a closer look at the issue, we attempted to test the claims for ourselves and discovered that Meta may have quietly rectified the issues initially reported. When we tried to get Meta’s Imagine to produce an image of a pope or group of popes, the AI refused. Similarly, when asked to generate images of the US founding fathers, the AI only returned images of white founding fathers – a historically accurate representation.
Furthermore, when asked to produce images of vikings – an image Gemini was criticised for inaccurately depicting – Meta’s Imagine correctly represented historically accurate vikings.
These issues shed light on the difficulties of AI image generation, with the technology lacking the nuanced understanding of history a human might have. This problem isn’t unique to Meta, as Google also faced backlash over Gemini’s similar problems and seems to have since removed the AI’s ability to create historical images of individuals.
Evidently, it’s clear that striking a balance between correct representation and historical accuracy in AI-generated images is a challenge. As AI technology continues to advance, it’s critical that models are improved to address their existing biases and further enhance their understanding of history to avoid similar instances of controversy. The Chainsaw has reached out to Meta for further comment on the matter, but has yet to receive a response.
