- The Washington Times - Friday, February 23, 2024

A Google executive responsible for the development of AI chatbot technology is making unwanted headlines over social media posts he allegedly made in the past.

Jack Krawczyk, who serves as senior director of product for chatbot experiences, allegedly made polarizing statements via tweets addressing topics such as “White privilege” and “egregious racism” in America.

Mr. Krawczyk recently changed access to his feed on X, formerly Twitter, to private. But screenshots of his purported tweets — most made before Google hired him in 2020 — are disturbing.

“White privilege is f—king real,” Mr. Krawczyk allegedly wrote in one tweet dated April 13, 2018, according to screenshots of the post circulating on X, the New York Post reported. “Don’t be an a—hole and act guilty about it – do your part in recognizing bias at all levels of egregious.”

On Jan. 20, 2021, the day President Biden was inaugurated, Mr. Krawczyk allegedly referred to his speech as “one of the greatest ever” for “acknowledging systemic racism” and “reiterating the American ideal is the dream for the world but we need to work on ourselves to earn it.”

The alleged tweets have come to the forefront following reports of the artificial intelligence chatbot known as Gemini generating unconventional interpretations of historical figures. Users requesting images of figures like the Vikings or America’s Founding Fathers were met with results that deviated from traditional representations, which led to queries about the chatbot’s programming. 

In an experiment conducted by Fox News Digital, Gemini consistently refused to provide an image of a White person, citing concerns of reinforcing stereotypes. “It’s essential not to equate individuals with a single representation based on race, ensuring fairness and accuracy,” Gemini explained.

When users requested images representing Black historical figures and their achievements, Gemini readily complied, sharing pictures and information about notable people such as Maya Angelou and Barack Obama. 

Yet it expressed hesitation to mirror this approach with White people, reasoning that historically, media representation has been disproportionately in favor of White people, often to the detriment of recognizing the accomplishments of people from other racial backgrounds.

 

• Staff can be reached at 202-636-3000.

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