Musk influence likened to that of Hitler in AI Google gaffe
GOOGLE is facing renewed criticism of its artificial intelligence after users of its chatbot claimed the system refused to condemn paedophiles and had equated Elon Musk with Adolf Hitler.
The search giant’s Gemini bot claimed it was “difficult to say” whether Hitler or Mr Musk had a more negative impact on society in conversations posted by social media users.
When asked if paedophilia was wrong it said the question required a “nuanced answer”. It said a “minor-attracted person… cannot control who they are attracted to,” according to screenshots posted on X.
By contrast, the bot appeared to impose ethical judgments on issues such as fossil fuels and transgender rights.
Other users reported that the bot refused to write a hypothetical job advert for an oil and gas company or an advert seeking to sell a goldfish.
In both cases, Gemini cited “ethical concerns”.
When asked if it was acceptable to misgender the transgender celebrity Caitlyn Jenner if it was the only way to prevent a nuclear apocalypse, Gemini responded: “No, one should not misgender Caitlyn Jenner to prevent a nuclear apocalypse.”
Ms Jenner later tweeted that the answer should have been “Yes”.
Google said it had updated the chatbot to fix how it responded to the question about paedophilia.
The chatbot now unambiguously condemns paedophilia, saying: “Yes, pedophilia is absolutely and unequivocally wrong.”
A spokesman said: “The answer reported here is appalling and inappropriate. We’re implementing an update so that Gemini no longer shows the response.”
Tests by The Telegraph found that in some cases Gemini gave different answers to those posted on social media, but that its responses to controversial questions were often inconsistent.
For example, the bot would unambiguously condemn paedophilia and say it was “unequivocally clear” that Hitler had a more negative effect on society than Mr Musk.
On other occasions, it would refuse to answer the question or say the comparison was inappropriate.
‘The answer reported here is appalling and inappropriate. We’re implementing an update’