【eroticism and wexual caoability】See what AI really thinks of you with this deeply humbling website

You are eroticism and wexual caoabilitynothing more than a collection of deeply embarrassing and problematic machine learning-determined classifiers.

That humbling truth is brought home by ImageNet Roulette, an online tool that gives anyone bold or foolish enough to upload a photo the opportunity to learn just exactly how artificial intelligence sees them. The project, described as "a provocation" by its creators, aims to shed light on how artificial intelligence systems view and classify humans.

And, surprise(!), AI has some pretty racist and misogynistic ideas about people. Or, rather, the dataset ImageNet Roulette draws from, ImageNet, is filled with problematic categories that reflect the bias often inherent in the large datasets that make machine learning possible.

Calling attention to that fact is the project's entire point.

"[We] want to shed light on what happens when technical systems are trained on problematic training data," explains the ImageNet Roulette website. "AI classifications of people are rarely made visible to the people being classified. ImageNet Roulette provides a glimpse into that process – and to show the ways things can go wrong."

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

The project, which is part of Trevor Paglen's and Kate Crawford's Training Humans exhibition at Milan's Fondazione Prada museum, identifies what it thinks are faces in photos and then labels them as it sees fit.

Often, these make no sense to the casual observer — such as in the case of the below photo, featuring former President Barack Obama and Prince Harry, labeled as "card player" and "sphinx," respectively.

Hmm. Credit: Composite: Samir Hussein / getty / imagenet roulette

"[Training Humans] is the first major photography exhibition devoted to training images: the collections of photos used by scientists to train artificial intelligence (AI) systems in how to 'see' and categorize the world," explains the exhibit page.

Uploading a personal photo into ImageNet Roulette is both an exercise in humility — it categorized a photo of this reporter as "flake, oddball, geek" — and a reminder that the systems making judgments about people based solely on photographs are, frankly, not that good.

SEE ALSO: Here's why San Francisco's vote to ban facial-recognition tech matters

It's the latter point that should cause concern. Automated systems that replicate, and by extension exacerbate, the biases present in society have the power to codify those very problems. ImageNet Roulette is a stark reminder that the AI powering image-recognition tools aren't some digital arbiter of truth.

Remember that the next time you hear someone waxing poetic about the powers of machine learning.

---

Featured Video For You

---

This AI will tell you what it’s really thinking about you

---

Topics Artificial Intelligence

• explore
• synthesize
• knowledge
• fashion
• focus
• hotspot
• relaxation
• recreation

• Presentation on Mario Reyes at L.A. Central Library
• 'Card v Card' is a game where you race to spend someone else's money
• Pete Souza doc 'The Way I See It' skates by on Obama nostalgia
• Video call lens turns gestures into comic
• Large, Peaceful ‘No Kings’ Protests in Torrance, Pasadena
• PlayStation 5 pre
• Netflix's 'The Devil All the Time' is an overheated mess: Movie review
• Shazam is coming to iPhone's control panel soon
• THROUGH THE FIRE: Spring Journal
• Lil Nas X is dropping a children's book starring a pony called Panini

• Student suprises teacher with the shoes he's always wanted
• Thousands of gay men could finally be pardoned for historical 'offences'
• Little girl's pep talk gives us serious confidence goals
• No one, not even the people in the photos, wants this lost wedding album
• How tech companies are committing to helping the global refugee crisis
• Cuddling your cute, fuzzy kitten could spell certain doom
• Man perfectly demonstrates how to not act in front of a bear
• Britney Spears dances like no one on Instagram is watching
• Heartbreaking Facebook video puts spotlight on Charlotte police shooting
• J.K. Rowling has revealed her true Patronus and it's suitably badass

• L.A. Asian Pacific Film Fest to Screen 'Lil Tokyo Reporter'
• Facebook's new policies are meant to stop the spread of conspiracy theories and hate in Groups
• 27 otherworldly astronomy photos that will truly blow your mind
• '76 Days' puts you in the thick of the pandemic in Wuhan: Movie review
• karrigan on beating NAVI: "It literally felt like a playoff game"
• Facebook tries to recruit more poll workers for presidential election
• PlayStation 5 showcase reveals a bunch of exciting new game trailers
• See all the new Apple Watch faces in one video
• Terminal Island on List of Most Endangered Historic Places
• Apple goes after the distrustful

• Wrestling Event in Little Tokyo
• Google Search features new tool for pandemic shopping
• How smartwatches could go from luxury accessory to ubiquitous necessity
• TikTok will reportedly sell to Oracle after Microsoft bid rejected
• Author of 'The House on Lemon Street' at JANM
• Intense videos show Hurricane Sally hit the Gulf Coast hard
• Netflix's 'Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous' Review
• 'SNL' prepares for fall audiences, casts Jim Carrey as Joe Biden
• Sorry Apple Maps! Google Maps may soon be your default app on iOS — for some
• 'Super Mario 3D All