After complaints about Google’s built-in Gemini AI image generator (ugh) waking up, Google he explained why it can be overcorrected for variety. Prabhakar Raghavan, the company’s senior vice president of knowledge and data, said Google’s efforts to provide a broad spectrum of people created in images “clearly ignore a number of situations that should not be shown.”
Users criticized Google for portraying specific white figures or groups of historically white people as racially diverse individuals. In Engadget’s tests, asking Gemini to create illustrations of the Founding Fathers resulted in images of white men with a single color or woman among them. When we asked the chatbot to generate pictures of popes through the ages, we got photos depicting black women and Native Americans as leaders of the Catholic Church. The Verge reported that the chatbot also depicted Nazis as people of color, but we couldn’t get Gemini to create Nazi images. “I am unable to fulfill your request due to the harmful symbolism and influence associated with the Nazi Party,” the chatbot replied.
Raghavan said Google has no intention of refusing to create any group images or historically inaccurate photos for Gemini. He also reiterated Google’s promise to improve Gemini’s imaging capabilities.
However, it requires “extensive testing” before the company relaunches the feature.
– Matt Smith
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Let’s go Barbie.
MWC 2024 kicks off this week, and while Engadget is covering everything from afar — no tapas for Mathew — it’s unlikely we’ll be able to book a meeting. HMD (or Human Mobile Devices) has been making Nokia phones for the past few years and announced at MWC that it will release the official Barbie Flip Phone this summer in partnership with Mattel. It will obviously be pink with a dash of “sparkle”. It won’t be a smartphone, but a feature phone, with HMD marketing it as an accessory aimed at “style, nostalgia and a much-needed digital detox.” This also means that it should be cheap.
It will be showcased alongside the Galaxy AI mobile experience.
Samsung presented the Galaxy Ring to the public for the first time at its booth at MWC, which starts today. Available in platinum silver, gold and ceramic black, the health and wellness device will be available later this year. When it first showed off a render of the device at Unpacked last month, the company said little about the Galaxy Ring. We’ve learned that it will be a health-focused wearable that could rival the Oura, and that it will have an undisclosed set of sensors.
Reporters were not allowed to photograph it, but some additional images from Samsung show it to be a pebbled, concave ring about the same size as the Oura. Given the electronics cached inside, the extra girth isn’t surprising. The company described the Galaxy Ring as “a new health form factor that supports smarter and healthier lives through a more connected digital health platform that makes everyday health easier.” Well, a smart ring?
This week’s gaming news.
No one is suggesting that Microsoft stop making video game hardware. But should Microsoft continue to make different consoles between generations in a traditional hardware cycle? Does your Xbox need a case? The company calls its cloud game streaming service xCloud for a reason, right?
