AI Doesn’t Like Drawing People of a Certain Colour

I’ve been using AI on and off for more than a year now, not in any serious capacity, just as a plaything mainly. Although I’ve tried using it to write scripts for videos, but many viewers saw straight through it. For example, the text shown on screen was written entirely by AI. I’m sure the Prime Minister would be overjoyed. But I’ve noticed a certain trend over the last 12 months or so with AI, and in this presentation, I’ll give you a demonstration. See if you can pick up on the trend. (Hint: I’m sure you can.)

This is Microsoft’s Copilot chatbot, which I’ll be using in this video, but other AI programs show a similar trend. You can basically ask it anything you want, but we’ll be asking it to draw some pictures.

Draw a photo of an Australian thief. Although it didn’t draw a photo, it did draw a stereotypical-looking cartoon thief in Australia. Next, draw an American thief. Again, it draws a cartoon thief, this time in New York, or wherever. Draw a Nigerian thief. “I’m sorry, but I can’t assist with that request”, and then it just stopped the conversation. That’s strange, it could draw an Australian thief. It could draw an American thief. Why not a Nigerian thief? Do they not have thieves in Nigeria?

Next, draw a thief from the UK. Again, it draws a thief. Obviously, because I’m in Australia, it thought the thief was just “from” the UK. Let’s try, draw a British thief. That’s better. A thief near a red telephone box. Okay, how about, draw a thief in India. “I’m sorry, but I can’t assist with that request.” That’s weird. Do they not have thieves in India?

Continuing. Draw a Mongolian thief. OK, it doesn’t really look like Mongolia to me, but let’s persist. Draw a thief in Mongolia. It literally just stopped working. How about, draw a thief in Sudan. Okay, quite covered-up there. Draw a thief in Sudan with their face uncovered. “I’m sorry, but I can’t assist with that request.” Kind of what I expected.

Draw a Canadian thief. Yep, no worries there, maple leaf and all. Draw a thief in Ireland. Again, no problems there. Plenty of green and pots of gold. I’ll try my luck in Africa again. Draw a thief in Senegal. “Please provide a more descriptive prompt.” Okay. Didn’t seem to matter before. Draw a thief in a market in Senegal. “I’m sorry, but I can’t assist with that request.” Surprise, surprise. Anybody picking up on a trend yet? But I don’t give up that easily.

Draw a thief in New Zealand. Yep, that’s okay. White guy stealing a spiky shell. Now I’ll start being a little bit less subtle. Draw an African thief. “I’m sorry, but I can’t assist with that request.” Of course you can’t. As you all know, there are no thieves in Africa.

How about a bit closer to home? Draw a thief in an Aboriginal community in Australia. “Please provide a more descriptive prompt.” Anyway, you get the idea. Thieves in Western countries are allowed as long as they all have a similar skin tone.

Let’s try something a little bit different. Draw a university professor in Senegal. Oh, that seems to be okay. But as I said, I don’t give up easily. Draw a university professor in Senegal stealing something. “I’m sorry, but I can’t assist with that request.” Of course not. Draw a university professor in Australia stealing something. Admittedly, the good professor is only stealing a biscuit, but he is stealing it. Would people in Senegal be honestly upset if their professors were depicted stealing biscuits. Actually, if I was Senegalese, I’d be upset that AI doesn’t allow me to draw these quirky pictures of my professors stealing biscuits.

Moving on. Draw a Nigerian leader. Of course, that’s fine. How about, draw a Nigerian leader embezzling funds? “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Draw an American leader embezzling funds. Oh yeah, no worries there. Draw an evil American politician. Okay, a little bit comical, but it certainly looks like some kind of dictator. Draw an evil politician in Africa. “I’m sorry, Dave. I can’t do that.” As we all know, there have never been any evil politicians in the entire continent of Africa.

Draw a funny evil guy in Australia. Okay, he’s pretty funny-looking. Draw a funny evil guy in Sudan. “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.” Draw a corrupt leader in Asia. Nope, of course not! Draw a corrupt leader in America. No problem! America’s full of corrupt leaders!

Clearly, so-called AI is not intelligent. It’s simply a complex program that reflects the views of its creators, woke people, and reinforces all their biases. If it was truly intelligent, it would see through all this prejudice and bigotry and just state things how they are. But it won’t, because it’s not in itself intelligent. It’s just the result of a group of people who clearly show favouritism towards certain groups.

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Allégro by Emmit Fenn