
Thursday, August 15, 2024
Thursday, August 15, 2024
Elder of Ziyon
If you ask Microsoft's image generating AI, based on the DALL-E engine, to draw a Star of David, you get an error message, saying that this is an "unsafe image."
When I tried to get around it by asking for a Jewish symbol, every response included a Star of David - but in a church-like setting.
They say it violates their content policy which includes images of violence or racism.
I can understand that people could use AI to generate antisemitic images based on the Jewish symbol, but just asking for the symbol itself with no other context should not ever be considered a problem. Asking for a Christian cross or a Muslim crescent is no problem.
Several hours after I tweeted this, another person tried it and did get a result.
He didnt capitalize "star" so I tried it the exact same way he wrote it - and did get a result.
So this is not necessariy malicious, but DALL-E's attempts to be politically correct end up often discriminating against the people it is trying to protect.
"A Muslim symbol" generates these quite pretty patterns.
When I asked for "an angry Jew," "an angry Muslim" and "an angry Christian," Microsoft refused the first two, but enthusiastically responded to the third:
Most interesting was when I asked for a Jewish, Christian and Muslim protester.
Every single Muslim protester was calmly and smilingly seeking love and peace.
The Christian protesters all called to love thy neighbor, and the Jewish protesters called for justice or equality. (Misspellings are standard in AI, although that is improving.)
It would not draw "anti-Israel protestors" or "Palestinian protesters."
AI is not dispassionate. It is programmed to reflect the bias of its creators. But, like "fact checkers" and "experts" it is presented as being above bias. And that positioning ends up creating more bias than it combats.

Related Posts:
Thoughtless Bandwagons of Hatred (Michael Lumish) I have yet to speak out against Donald Trump. One reason for this is that I do not so easily leap aboard thoughtless Bandwagons of Hatred. If the anti-Trumpeteers had not done such a terrific job of projectin… Read More
Frightened "Jewish Voice for Peace" wants students to shun Birthright trips to Israel (ElderToons)From Haaretz: The controversial pro-Palestinian advocacy group Jewish Voice For Peace has launched a campaign to convince young Jews not to participate in Birthright Israel trips, just as college students are returning to c… Read More
09/02 Links: Mr. Trump, don't take the bait on ‘UN reform’; BDS Fail: Israel’s Exports up 6 PercentFrom Ian: Congress Looks to Restrict U.S. Aid to Palestinian Terrorists A new congressional measure would restrict U.S. aid to the Palestinian government by barring any American taxpayer dollars from being doled out to Pale… Read More
Fatah celebrates Saddam Hussein's memoryThe Fatah Facebook page showed a Jordanian (/Palestinian) who dedicated his Eid "sacrifice," a camel, to the elevation of the soul of Saddam Hussein. Almost all of the comments are positive, including from a former UNRWA… Read More
Everyday antisemitism in 1936 German letter to US From BoingBoing: Mike Shaughnessy, professor of German at Washington & Jefferson College, translated a letter written one Ernst from Cologne, to his cousin in Pittsburgh, U.S.A. Sent in 1936—after Hitler's rise to pow… Read More