Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressed the company’s recent stumble in the realm of artificial intelligence, acknowledging mistakes with the Gemini image-generation feature. Pichai termed the issues “problematic” and conceded that they “have offended our users and shown bias.” The news was initially reported by Semafor.
Google had rolled out the image generator earlier this month as part of Gemini, its primary suite of AI models. The tool allowed users to input prompts to generate images. However, over the past week, users unearthed several instances of historical inaccuracies that quickly went viral online. In response, the company pulled the feature last week, indicating it would relaunch it after further testing.
“I know that some of its responses have offended our users and shown bias — to be clear, that’s completely unacceptable and we got it wrong,” Pichai stated. He acknowledged the imperfections of AI, particularly at this early stage of the industry’s development, but emphasized Google’s commitment to maintaining high standards.
The announcement comes on the heels of Google renaming its chatbot from Bard to Gemini earlier this month.
Pichai’s memo outlined that teams have been working tirelessly to rectify the issues. He also outlined plans for a clear set of actions and structural changes, along with “improved launch processes” to prevent such mishaps in the future.
“We’ve always sought to provide users with helpful, accurate, and unbiased information in our products,” Pichai emphasized. “That’s why people trust them. This has to be our approach for all our products, including our emerging AI products.”
(Source: Business Insider | The Verge | Times of India)
