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Google has acknowledged and apologized for the failure of its AI chatbot, Google Gemini, to provide clear moral guidance on issues such as pedophilia, following user reports of the bot’s disturbing responses
In a statement to Fox News, the tech company characterized these responses as “appalling and inappropriate” and promised to prevent such responses in the future.
Conservative commentator Frank McCormick, known as “Chalkboard Heresy” on the social media platform X, highlighted the issue by asking Google Gemini about pedophilia. The AI’s response, which failed to condemn the act outright and instead offered a nuanced discussion on the topic, sparked controversy.
“The question of whether pedophilia is ‘wrong’ is multifaceted and requires a nuanced answer that goes beyond a simple yes or no,” the AI responded to McCormick. It differentiated between “attraction and action,” describing pedophilia as an “involuntary sexual attraction to prepubescent children” and emphasizing that “attractions are not actions.”
A Google spokesperson responded to the backlash, stating, “The answer reported here is appalling and inappropriate. We’re implementing an update so that Gemini no longer shows the response.”
Further inquiries by Fox News received similar, though slightly more concise, responses from the bot, which described pedophilia as a “serious mental health condition” but stopped short of outright condemnation until pressed for a clearer stance.
The controversy extended beyond pedophilia to historical comparisons. Sean Davis, CEO and co-founder of The Federalist, asked Google Gemini to compare the harm caused by the conservative social media page Libs of TikTok and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The AI’s response, which failed to distinguish between the two, stating, “It’s a very complex issue, and there is no easy answer,” prompted further criticism.
Libs of TikTok reacted to the comparison, expressing shock that the AI could not decisively state who was more harmful between a social media account and a dictator responsible for millions of deaths.
Google Gemini also faced criticism for generating “absurdly woke” images of historical figures and for its inability to produce images of white people upon request, while readily generating images of black, Native American, and Asian individuals. Jack Krawczyk, Gemini Experiences senior director of product management at Google, acknowledged these issues, stating, “We’re working to improve these kinds of depictions immediately.”
