Google Left in ‘Terrible Bind’ by Pulling AI Feature After Right-Wing Backlash

(Bloomberg) -- February was shaping up to be a banner month for Google’s ambitious artificial intelligence strategy. The company rebranded its chatbot as Gemini and released two major product upgrades to better compete with rivals on all sides in the high-stakes AI arms race. In the midst of all that, Google also began allowing Gemini users to generate realistic-looking images of people.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Apple to Wind Down Electric Car Effort After Decadelong Odyssey

• How Much Wealth You Need to Join the Richest 1% Around the World

• Office Tower Deal for $1 Reveals Anxiety Among Longtime Buyers

• A Spike in Heart Disease Deaths Since Covid Is Puzzling Scientists

• Nvidia’s $70 Million Florida Supercomputer Hobbled by DeSantis Law

Not many noticed the feature at first. Other companies like OpenAI already offer tools that let users quickly make images of people that can then be used for marketing, art and brainstorming creative ideas. Like other AI products, though, these image-generators run the risk of perpetuating biases based on the data they’ve been fed in the development process. Ask for a nurse and some AI services are more likely to show a woman; ask for a chief executive and you’ll often see a man.

​​Within weeks of Google launching the feature, Gemini users noticed a different problem. Starting on Feb. 20 and continuing throughout the week, users on X flooded the s