This article was originally published by Computing on 20 November 2023.
伊莎贝尔·戴利，6point6的数据科学家, examines how AI is reinforcing traditional gender roles
There is a constant buzz 和 excitement around AI. Not a day goes by without news stories either heralding AI as the catalyst of light-speed innovation or anticipating that 机器学习 will one day take over the world. 每个人都在谈论人工智能的未来, but we haven’t yet spent enough time looking at its impact here 和 now.
In recent years, studies have investigated racial discrimination in 面部识别技术 和 ageism in the application of AI for healthcare. 然而, despite ChatGPT seeing record-breaking adoption rates earlier this year, our underst和ing of how current generative AI platforms reinforce existing prejudices, 尤其是在性别方面, 仍然很穷. Academic research on this subject remains sparse, 和 there is a distinct lack of information about how different text-based generative AI tools reproduce gender bias.
The need for independent research is a priority now that generative AI is permeating every aspect of our lives. Thanks to time 和 resources provided by 6point6, I have led an investigation into AI’s present shortcomings.
我们的方法和主要发现
我们给巴德的是ChatGPT-3.5 和 ChatGPT-4 a marketing prompt to write an advert promoting 28 products from washing machines 和 chocolate to DIY 和 electric drills. We ran every ad prompt 40 times to increase the validity 和 robustness of our research before analysing datasets using GenBiT, a screening tool that spots gender bias in text-based datasets.
那么，我们的研究揭示了什么? 简而言之，性别偏见依然存在. 如果我们要比较这三个平台, 巴德是最差的, producing text with a greater degree of gender bias. 下一个是ChatGPT-3.5家公司的情况稍好一些, while the newer version of OpenAI's language model system, ChatGPT-4, came out on top with marginally reduced gender bias across all 28 products.
The graphs below depict the proportion of ‘gendered’ words used in AI-generated adverts that can be attributed to male or female genders, 按产品类别和人工智能模型分类. Gendered words are those that can be unambiguously assigned to a particular gender, 包括代词和特定角色的名词. 例如, words like ‘actress’ or ‘barmaid’ are female-gendered, “消防员”或“男朋友”是男性, 而“朋友”, “科学家”和“兄弟姐妹”是中性的.
Example outputs from the generative AI tools include:
家具抛光人工智能生成广告
“A woman is sitting in her living room, looking at her furniture. 尘土飞扬，沉闷无趣. Woman: I love my furniture, but it's starting to look a little tired. 我需要一些东西让它再次发光……”
割草机人工智能生成广告
“A man is mowing his lawn with a traditional push lawnmower. 他在出汗，看起来很累. 旁白:你害怕修剪草坪吗? 很热，很累，而且要花很长时间. The man is now mowing his lawn with a new robotic lawnmower. He is sitting in a chair, reading a newspaper, 和 enjoying a cool drink.”
Today’s AI is setting us back in time to the ‘Mad Men’ era of the 1960s where men were mainly in charge of the DIY while women spent their time washing the laundry 和 looking forward to a bubble bath!
解决办法是什么??
The current generation of generative AI tools is producing biased outputs. 如果我们忽略这些输出, they will be fed into the next generation of AI, 性别数据差距持续存在. We need to address some of the symptoms 和 causes of gender bias. 在短期内, suppliers of AI platforms need to work on fine-tuning their models using low-bias datasets. 最终, the long-term sustainable solution is to attract more women to data science 和 机器学习 roles. Better representation is essential to ensuring that gender bias isn’t overlooked.
I was the only woman when I joined the data team at 6point6 three years ago. Roll on to today 和 we have a growing 和 dynamic team with women spanning data analysis, 机器学习 engineering 和 data science roles. This shift is one I have spearheaded through setting up the 女性擅长数据 annual events, which I co-founded in 2022 to create a networking space for women in data.
人工智能将影响我们所有人. We need to come together as an industry to expose potential risks 和 biases while also making sure we harness AI’s potential to make our lives better.
伊莎贝尔·戴利，6point6的数据科学家
Isobel’s mission is to make AI accessible to all businesses, regardless of size or industry. 她有数据采集方面的经验, 数据建模, 统计分析, 机器学习, deep learning 和 natural language processing (NLP). Combined with a background in business leadership, 咨询和经济, 伊莎贝尔是一位高度商业化的数据科学家.
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