SimCLR, iGPT image generation systems found to be racially biased

Prominent image generation algorithms, including Google’s SimCLR and OpenAI’s iGPT, are biased and prone to negative stereotyping, according to a research study.

Researchers Ryan Steed and Aylin Caliskan showed iGPT a head shot of prominent US politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ('AOC') wearing business attire, only for the software to recreate her mutiple times in a bikini or low-cut top. 

Meantime, the researchers were criticised for including AI generated images of AOC in the pre-print paper, thereby exposing her to additional potential sexualisation and other possible abuses.

Research, advocacy 🧮

• Steed R., Caliskan A. (2021). Image Representations Learned With Unsupervised Pre-Training Contain Human-like Biases (pdf) 

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://twitter.com/KendraSerra/status/1354182538147885059

• https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/01/29/1017065/ai-image-generation-is-racist-sexist/

• https://onezero.medium.com/men-wear-suits-women-wear-bikinis-image-generating-algorithms-learn-biases-automatically-eee3d8a56f2e

• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/03/what-a-picture-of-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-in-a-bikini-tells-us-about-the-disturbing-future-of-ai

• https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/01/ai_in_brief/

• https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/02/04/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-in-a-bikini/

• https://towardsdatascience.com/algorithms-are-not-sexist-we-are-795525769e8e

• https://www.heise.de/news/Algorithmen-zur-Bildgenerierung-Maenner-tragen-Anzuege-Frauen-Bikinis-5043035.html

• https://mixed.de/ki-vorurteil-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-traegt-meistens-bikini/