Oh yeah, as a woman who grew up in a Third World country, how an AI model generates images would have deeply affected my daily struggles! /s
It's kinda insulting that they think that this would be insulting. Like "Oh no I asked the model to draw a doctor and it drew a male doctor, I guess there's no point in me pursuing medical studies" ...
Yes actually, subconscious bias due to historical prejudice does have a large effect on society. Obviously there are things with much larger effects, that doesn't mean that this doesn't exist.
> Oh no I asked the model to draw a doctor and it drew a male doctor, I guess there's no point in me pursuing medical studies
If you don't think this is a real thing that happens to children you're not thinking especially hard. It doesn't have to be common to be real.
> subconscious bias due to historical prejudice does have a large effect on society.
The quality of the evidence for this, as with almost all social science and much of psychology, is extremely low bordering on just certified opinions. I would love to understand why you think otherwise.
> Obviously there are things with much larger effects, that doesn't mean that this doesn't exist.
What a hedge. How should we estimate the size of this effect, so that we can accurately measure whether/when the self-appointed hall monitors are doing more harm than good?
> If you don't think this is a real thing that happens to children you're not thinking especially hard
I believe that's where parenting comes in. Maybe I'm too cynical but I think that the parents' job is to undo all of the harm done by society and instill in their children the "correct" values.
I'd say you're right. Unfortunately many people are raised by bad parents. Should these researchers accept that their work may perpetuate stereotypes that harm those that most need help? I can see why they wouldn't want that.
> I think that the parents' job is to undo all of the harm done by society and instill in their children the "correct" values.
Far from being too cynical, this is too optimistic.
The vast majority of parents try to instill the value "do not use heroin." And yet society manages to do that harm on a large scale. There are other examples.
It seems extremely unfair that parents of young black men should have to work extra hard to tell their kids they're not destined to be criminals. Hell, it's not fair on parents of blonde girls to tell their kids they don't have to be just dumb and pretty.
(note: I am deliberately picking bad stereotypes that are pervasive in our culture... I am not in any way suggesting those are true.)
I don't think the concern over offense is actually about you. There's a metagame here which is that if it could potentially offend you (third-world-originated-woman), then there's a brand-image liability for the company. I don't think they care about you, I think they care about not being hit on as "the company that algorithmically identifies black people as gorillas".
It's not meant to prevent offence to you. It is meant to be a "good product" by the metrics of their creators. And quite simply, everyone here incapable of making the thing is unlikely to have an image of what a "good product" here is. More power to them for having a good vision of what they're building.
Oh yeah, as a woman who grew up in a Third World country, how an AI model generates images would have deeply affected my daily struggles! /s
It's kinda insulting that they think that this would be insulting. Like "Oh no I asked the model to draw a doctor and it drew a male doctor, I guess there's no point in me pursuing medical studies" ...