AI image generators have, to some extent, taken over social media. We’ve all seen them, the AI images of how people would look 30 years older, or younger, or what their kids would allegedly look like…
And what about that crazy couple of weeks where everyone posted AI-generated posters of themselves in Pixar movies?
Well, in Brazil, that trend took a controversial turn.
Renata Souza, a state lawmaker in Rio de Janeiro, sought to generate one of these images for her Instagram page. The prompt, she says, was for a “black woman, with an afro haircut, with African-patterned clothing, in front of a favela backdrop.”
But the AI generator produced an image of a woman holding a gun.
This ignited debates in Brazil about whether or not the algorithms that govern these tools, some of which have a huge impact on our lives in society, are in fact racist.
Listen and subscribe to our podcast from your mobile device:
Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Deezer
This episode used music from Uppbeat and Envato. License codes: Aspire by Pryces (B6TUQLVYOWVKY02S), A Dystopian Noir by Crypt-of-Insomnia (79ERDH84G2), Technogenesis by Crypt-of-Insomnia (TYFQ8S25JP) and Futurism by cleanmindsounds (9S7L6H4MBT)
In this episode:
- Tarcizio Silva is a Senior Tech Policy Fellow at Mozilla. He is the author of “Algorithmic Racism: Artificial Intelligence and Discrimination in Digital Media.”
Background reading:
- We first touched on the subject of racist facial recognition algorithms in 2020, as Brazilian states were testing the use of the technology in law enforcement, and then again in 2022, as the São Paulo subway network implanted its AI-powered system.
- Brazil has been lagging behind on its regulation of artificial intelligence, even though it was one of the first countries to discuss ground rules for the tech.
- Data protection lawyer and The Brazilian Report columnist Marcela Mattiuzzo analyzed the proposals on the table in Brazil to regulate AI, pointing out a lack of clarity on where the debate was heading.
- The use of AI in the upcoming municipal elections is a hot-button issue. Congress is discussing the threats and limits of the tech for this year’s vote.
Do you have a suggestion for our next Explaining Brazil podcast? Drop us a line at [email protected]
Search
