Work

Perpetuation of Gender Bias in Visual Representation of Professions in the Generative AI Tools DALL·E and Bing Image Creator

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI)-based generative imaging systems such as DALL·E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Adobe Firefly, which work by transforming natural language descriptions into images, are revolutionizing computer vision. In this exploratory and qualitative research, we have replicated requests for images of women in different professions by comparing these representations in previous studies with DALL·E, observing that this model continues to provide in its last version, DALL·E 3, inequitable results in terms of gender. In addition, Bing Image Creator, Microsoft’s free tool that is widely used among the population and runs under DALL·E, has been tested for the first time. It also presents a sexualization of women and stereotypical children’s representations. The results reveal the following: 1. A slight improvement in terms of the presence of women in professions previously shown only with men. 2. They continue to offer biased results in terms of the objectification of women by showing sexualized women. 3. The representation of children highlights another level of gender bias, reinforcing traditional stereotypes associated with gender roles from childhood, which can impact future decisions regarding studies and occupations.

Source: Social Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/socsci13050250

Authors: Teresa Sandoval-Martin, Ester Martínez-Sanzo

Institution: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Language: English

Topic: Ethics and Social Impacts of AI

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,046