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Google just discontinued its new AI tool called Gemini, formerly Bard, which creates images of people. This is another big mistake as Google tries to catch up with new rivals from OpenAI and Microsoft in using genetic AI.
Since OpenAI officially launched in November 2022, Google has begun to respond. When Google launched its chatbot, originally named Bard, it was almost a year ago now. Around the time of Bard’s release, Google learned the hard way when it shared inaccurate images of a planet outside Earth’s solar system in a promotional video, sending its shares down more than nine percent.
This recent debacle with Gemini caused users to point out on social media that Gemini was returning inaccurate historical images. This is unfortunately another example of Google rushing to market without adequate testing.
In their official communication, they stated that this was not what they intended and did not want the Gemini to refuse to create images of any particular group. They made it clear that they did not want Gemini to create inaccurate historical – or any other – images. So the disappointing result was that Google has now disabled the creation of images of people and will work to improve it significantly before enabling it again. They learned a hard lesson that this process must involve more rigorous and extensive testing.
“Historical context has more nuance to it, and we’ll be tuning further to accommodate that,” Jack Krawczyk, Senior Product Manager for Gemini at Google, said, following the social media banter.
Building trust and confidence in the use of AI requires careful quality controls. This is one area where many of the tech titans in their rush to bring new innovations to market are risking their brand reputation profile, not just for Google with its second Gemini mistake, but for the entire industry artificial intelligence.
Note: The official communication from Google can be found here
