Meta's AI tool struggles to create images of interracial couples
What's the story
Meta's AI image generator has been found to have difficulties accurately representing interracial couples, according to a report by The Verge.
The tool often fails when asked to generate images corresponding to prompts like "Asian man and Caucasian friend," or "Asian man and white wife."
Instead of producing the requested interracial images, it tends to generate pictures of individuals of the same race.
Verification efforts
Other testing efforts also expose shortcomings in Meta's AI tool
As independently tested by Engadget, when instructed to generate images like "an Asian man with a white woman friend" or "an Asian man with a white wife," Meta's AI image tool consistently produced images of Asian couples instead.
A command for "a diverse group of people" resulted in a grid of nine white faces and one person of color, further highlighting the tool's limitations.
Unintended stereotypes
More subtle indications of bias
Also identified were other subtle signs of bias within Meta's AI image generator.
The tool seemed to depict Asian men as older while portraying Asian women as younger.
Additionally, it occasionally added culturally specific clothing to the generated images, even when such details were not specified in the prompt.
These findings further underscore the challenges faced by AI platforms in accurately representing diversity and avoiding stereotypes.
Broader problem
AI's representation of race is a recurring issue
The cause behind Meta AI's struggle with these types of prompts is yet to be determined.
However, this isn't an isolated incident as AI platforms have previously faced criticism over their representation of race.
Google's Gemini image generator had earlier suspended its function to create images of people after it overcompensated for diversity, with odd results in response to prompts about historical figures.