Mountain View December 8, 2023 – Google is at the center of an artificial intelligence controversy after admitting that a Gemini AI demonstration video was doctored to exaggerate the capabilities of competitor GPT-4.
On Wednesday, Google released a demonstration video titled “Hands-on with Gemini: Interacting with multimodal AI,” which appeared to showcase the new Gemini model of artificial intelligence capable of recognizing visual cues and interacting vocally in real time. However, as Parmy Olson reported on Bloomberg, Google later admitted that the video was misleading.
The video made people believe that Gemini was able to receive visual input in real time and intelligently respond to user requests.
Here is the video:
However, Google confessed that it created the demo using pre-recorded footage and inserting still images into the template. Vocal interactions had been modified and synchronized with positive responses, giving a distorted image of Gemini’s actual capabilities.
A Google spokesperson said: “We created the demo by capturing footage to test Gemini’s capabilities in a wide range of challenges. Then we challenged Gemini using still image frames from the footage and suggestions via text.”
AI experts quickly raised doubts about the video’s validity, as running still images and text through large language models is computationally intensive, making it difficult to visualize in real time.
The controversy comes at a crucial time for Google, as it seeks to catch up with OpenAI’s recent advances in generative artificial intelligence. The manipulated video raised doubts about the real capabilities of Gemini, which Google called the main competitor to OpenAI’s GPT-4.
After the Gemini announcement, Google shares rose 5%, but the controversy led AI experts to question the company’s claims about the “sophisticated reasoning capabilities” of its new model.
In response to criticism, Google pointed out that the voice in the video corresponds to actual excerpts of the instructions used to produce Gemini’s output, but confusion persists regarding the model’s actual capabilities.
The story raises questions about the ethics of marketing in artificial intelligence, highlighting Google’s emphasis on its leadership in the sector. The situation could have significant repercussions on the public perception of Gemini AI and Google’s position in the competitive AI market.
