Elon Musk Slams ‘Woke’ Internet Giants And Their AI, Search Outcomes
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has criticized internet giants, including Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Wikipedia, for what he perceives as a detrimental influence of the “woke mind virus” on Western Civilization. Musk”s comments come in response to a New York Post report highlighting the controversial outcomes generated by Google”s AI chatbot, Gemini.
The woke mind virus is killing Western Civilization.
Google does the same thing with their search results. Facebook & Instagram too.
And Wikipedia. https://t.co/2RQ6v35m7P
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2024
The report revealed that Gemini”s image generator produced factually or historically inaccurate pictures in response to simple prompts. For instance, when asked to create an image of a pope, Gemini depicted a Southeast Asian woman and a black man instead of historical white male pontiffs. Similarly, queries for representative images of “the Founding Fathers in 1789” yielded images of black and Native American individuals signing what appeared to be a version of the US Constitution.
Critics, including right-wing social media influencer Ian Miles Cheong, lambasted Gemini”s outcomes as “absurdly woke,” arguing that such progressive-minded settings deviate from historical accuracy. Google acknowledged the criticism and pledged to improve Gemini”s depictions, acknowledging that while its AI image generation aims for inclusivity, it sometimes misses the mark.
The report sparked widespread discussion on social media, with users sharing confounding results and criticizing Gemini”s depiction of historical figures and events. The controversy underscores ongoing debates surrounding the role of AI in content creation and the balance between inclusivity and historical accuracy.
Google acknowledged the criticism and stated that they are actively working on a fix. Jack Krawczyk, Google’s senior director of product management for Gemini Experiences, informed The Post that they are working to improve these kinds of depictions immediately. He explained that Gemini’s AI image generation generally produces a wide range of people, which is beneficial as it caters to users worldwide. However, he admitted that it is missing the mark in this particular instance.
