DeepMind chief says Google’s bungled AI faces feature is returning soon

Last week, Alphabet Inc.’s Google pulled the image generator for Gemini, its powerful new AI model, amid a flurry of criticism over inaccurate historical depictions of race. — AFP

Google plans to resume a paused artificial intelligence feature that generates images of people in the "next couple of weeks,” according to the company’s top AI executive.

"We hope to have that back online in a very short order,” Demis Hassabis, head of the research division Google DeepMind, said on Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Last week, Alphabet Inc.’s Google pulled the image generator for Gemini, its powerful new AI model, amid a flurry of criticism over inaccurate historical depictions of race. In a blog post, the company explained that the model had become "way more cautious than we intended.”

Hassabis echoed this line, explaining that Google was dealing with the difficulties of launching a "multi-modal” system – one designed to generate text, images and photos.

"This is one of the nuances that comes with advanced AI,” he said. "It’s a field we’re all grappling with.” – Bloomberg