Facebook recently found itself in the middle of yet another scandal. This time, it’s not about the data leak, but about a racist message users were seeing under a video featuring Black men. Facebook’s AI labeled it as “Primates,” causing a fierce backlash.
Elle Germany publicly apologizes after insinuating that black models are “a trend”
by 11 Comments
Elle Germany has recently come under fire after publishing a “racially insensitive” issue. The November 2019 issue contains a tagline reading “black is back” along with a feature of models of color. Furthermore, there’s a photo of a black woman against the wrong person’s name, so the publication was accused that they “can’t actually tell models apart.”
Online database ImageNet to remove 600,000 images after art project exposes its racist and gender bias
by 2 Comments
ImageNet, one of the largest publicly accessible online databases of photos, is removing 600,000 images from its system. In other words, that’s as many as half of the 1.5 million images in its “person” categories. The decision came after an art project ImageNetRoulette revealed racist and gender bias that underlines ImageNet’s artificial intelligence.
“Racist” Government passport system rejects black man’s photo despite meeting all criteria
by 3 Comments
Although facial recognition technology uses artificial intelligence, it’s not always very intelligent. The Government’s facial detection system recently rejected a perfectly appropriate passport photo of a young black man because it thought his mouth was open.
Vogue Italia under fire for giving Gigi Hadid a “blackface”
by 1 Comment
Vogue Italia has recently published a cover featuring Gigi Hadid that caused quite a stir. The model appeared with overly-darkened skin, causing the public to accuse Vogue Italia and photographer Steven Klein of racism. It has gone so far, that even Hadid herself has apologized for the controversial cover, explaining that she had no control over the final result.
“For decades, our coverage was racist” says National Geographic
by 5 Comments
Now, more than ever, racism is a touchy subject. National Geographic’s April issue is being devoted entirely to the subject of race. Naturally, this is going to upset a lot of people. No matter what one’s thoughts on the subject, somebody’s going to be upset by those thoughts and opinions. But National Geographic is holding their hand up and taking responsibility for their own actions.
They challenged John Edwin Mason, a professor of African history and the history of photography at the University of Virginia to investigate the history of their own coverage of “people of color” in the USA and around the world. Now, National Geographic editor in chief, Susan Goldberg, admits “our coverage was racist“, and that needs to be acknowledged before they can move forward.
Why your Instagram photos of food may be “racist”
by 32 Comments
Have you ever thought food photos can be racist? Neither have I. But Portland-based food photographer Celeste Noche declares Instagram food photography to be exactly this – “racist”. In the podcast on The Racist Sandwich, she addresses the issues of racism, as well as gender and class division in Instagram food photography. As a Filipino, she feels that Asian cuisine is represented in a racist way. I always thought food shots are just food shots, but Celeste gives quite an interesting point of view analyzing these photos.
African Americans Tagged As “Gorillas” By Google Photos App
by 16 Comments
Google apparently is not the most politically-correct mind on the planet. As a recent incident with the Google Photos app illustrates, the artificial intelligence engine is still learning…and making giant mistakes along the way.
Computer programmer and hobbyist photographer Jacky Alciné recently tweeted, “Google Photos, y’all [email protected]#ked up. My friend’s not a gorilla,” along with a screen shot. Jacky had uploaded a photo of himself and a friend to Google Photos, and the automatic tagging feature got it completely wrong.
Photograph of a Seattle Neo-Nazi after Charleston Shooting Should Send Us All Soul Searching
by 29 Comments
Photographer Jay Trinidad was on his way home when he came across a man wearing a red armband, proudly displaying the Nazi swastika at Seattle’s downtown ferry dock.
His initial reaction was to walk away from the situation, but he decided to return and capture the image that has people wondering what’s wrong with our society.
As if walking around parading Nazi symbols isn’t bad enough, this person was out and about sharing his hatred just one day after the Charleston massacre, “basically sticking his middle finger up to everyone who could see him”.
Perhaps this photograph will open peoples’ eyes to how messed up things are.
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!