Google Gemini controversy and why to avoid GOOG stock
What an embarrassment, Google.
I’ve said many times, “This is the WORST artificial intelligence (AI) is ever going to be.”
Google (GOOG) just proved me wrong.
Last week, Google launched Gemini, its much-anticipated ChatGPT competitor.
It proved why GOOG is a bad AI stock to buy. Gemini is woke.
Like ChatGPT, Google Gemini can generate images. Here’s what you get when you ask it to portray America’s Founding Fathers. Notice anything weird?
Source: Gemini
There are dozens more examples of Gemini image generator rewriting history (see them on X).
What’s going on?
Google has everything it takes to win: money, data, and chips. But it’s been hijacked by what I call the “PCP” — political correctness police.
Remember, Google had an AI chatbot ready to go before ChatGPT. But woke senior execs were afraid to release it because the AI might say something “politically incorrect” or racist.
So, Google fine-tuned Gemini to remove stereotypes. The result: Gemini refuses to depict white people to prevent racism. I dug into Google’s Gemini documentation to see exactly how it works.
In short, when you give Gemini a prompt, it first gets routed to an AI model trained on diversity and “anti-harm” rhetoric. This model secretly edits the prompt before passing it to the image generator (you can’t see the edits).
Gemini’s refusal to depict — or even say — positive things about white people isn’t a silly mistake. The AI works as designed and reflects the political leanings of those who built it.
Gemini is trained on ideological datasets whose stated purpose is to oppose “stereotypes,” even if those stereotypes are true.
Gemini prioritizes diversity over facts. It sacrifices accuracy for ideology.
This affects you, even if you plan to never touch AI.
First off, we’re investors. And Google is the world’s fourth most valuable company.
Many of you own Google to profit from AI. And even if you don’t own it directly, you’re exposed through popular ETFs like SPY and QQQ.
I’ve suggested avoiding Google many times. With this latest embarrassment, Google has irreparably damaged its reputation in AI. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Google still dominates search and will continue to rake in billions of dollars selling ads. But as for being an AI leader? “Forgetaboutit,” to quote the great philosopher Tony Soprano.
But the reason this really matters is that by blatantly rewriting history, Google could speed run us into a dystopian nightmare.
Here’s George Orwell in his classic 1984:
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered.
… I know, of course, that the past is falsified, but it would never be possible for me to prove it, even when I did the falsification myself. After the thing is done, no evidence ever remains.”
The solution isn’t to shut down or ban AI. No, no, the total opposite. We must fight to keep AI open and push back against regulation.
Big AI players like Google and OpenAI tell us this tech is dangerous. That AI must be heavily regulated to keep it out of the hands of the bad guys.
What they’re trying to do is craft regulation in their favor, so they have full control over AI.
This would mean a handful of companies, unlikely to be staffed by freedom lovers, will be able to censor what we see online without most people even realizing it.
Imagine if people like this got full control of AI and used it to present their ideology as fact?
I remain pro-AI.
Every tech brings tradeoffs. Fire warms us and allows us to cook food. Armies also used it to burn down cities.
Let’s embrace the “good:” personalized AI tutors, robo-doctors, and self-driving cars.
Let’s also fight to keep AI open. We have freedom of speech. We need freedom of “compute.”
Bottom line: If you own Google (Alphabet) because you think Gemini will help it become a leader in AI, think again. It has almost no chance of winning the AI race.
GOOG stock is still below its 2021 highs. Avoid it.
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