Who Is to Blame for the Bias in Visualizations, ChatGPT or DALL-E?

Due to range of factors in the development stage, generative artificial intelligence (AI) models cannot be completely free from bias. Some biases are introduced by the quality of training data, and developer influence during both design and training of the large language models (LLMs), while others...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dirk H. R. Spennemann
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:AI
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2673-2688/6/5/92
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849327676222865408
author Dirk H. R. Spennemann
author_facet Dirk H. R. Spennemann
author_sort Dirk H. R. Spennemann
collection DOAJ
description Due to range of factors in the development stage, generative artificial intelligence (AI) models cannot be completely free from bias. Some biases are introduced by the quality of training data, and developer influence during both design and training of the large language models (LLMs), while others are introduced in the text-to-image (T2I) visualization programs. The bias and initialization at the interface between LLMs and T2I applications has not been examined to date. This study analyzes 770 images of librarians and curators generated by DALL-E from ChatGPT-4o prompts to investigate the source of gender, ethnicity, and age biases in these visualizations. Comparing prompts generated by ChatGPT-4o with DALL-E’s visual interpretations, the research demonstrates that DALL-E primarily introduces biases when ChatGPT-4o provides non-specific prompts. This highlights the potential for generative AI to perpetuate and amplify harmful stereotypes related to gender, age, and ethnicity in professional roles.
format Article
id doaj-art-e70882bf12ba4041aece6dbec7e078e3
institution Kabale University
issn 2673-2688
language English
publishDate 2025-04-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series AI
spelling doaj-art-e70882bf12ba4041aece6dbec7e078e32025-08-20T03:47:48ZengMDPI AGAI2673-26882025-04-01659210.3390/ai6050092Who Is to Blame for the Bias in Visualizations, ChatGPT or DALL-E?Dirk H. R. Spennemann0School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW 2640, AustraliaDue to range of factors in the development stage, generative artificial intelligence (AI) models cannot be completely free from bias. Some biases are introduced by the quality of training data, and developer influence during both design and training of the large language models (LLMs), while others are introduced in the text-to-image (T2I) visualization programs. The bias and initialization at the interface between LLMs and T2I applications has not been examined to date. This study analyzes 770 images of librarians and curators generated by DALL-E from ChatGPT-4o prompts to investigate the source of gender, ethnicity, and age biases in these visualizations. Comparing prompts generated by ChatGPT-4o with DALL-E’s visual interpretations, the research demonstrates that DALL-E primarily introduces biases when ChatGPT-4o provides non-specific prompts. This highlights the potential for generative AI to perpetuate and amplify harmful stereotypes related to gender, age, and ethnicity in professional roles.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-2688/6/5/92artificial intelligenceethnic biasgender biaslarge language modelstext-to-imageprofessions
spellingShingle Dirk H. R. Spennemann
Who Is to Blame for the Bias in Visualizations, ChatGPT or DALL-E?
AI
artificial intelligence
ethnic bias
gender bias
large language models
text-to-image
professions
title Who Is to Blame for the Bias in Visualizations, ChatGPT or DALL-E?
title_full Who Is to Blame for the Bias in Visualizations, ChatGPT or DALL-E?
title_fullStr Who Is to Blame for the Bias in Visualizations, ChatGPT or DALL-E?
title_full_unstemmed Who Is to Blame for the Bias in Visualizations, ChatGPT or DALL-E?
title_short Who Is to Blame for the Bias in Visualizations, ChatGPT or DALL-E?
title_sort who is to blame for the bias in visualizations chatgpt or dall e
topic artificial intelligence
ethnic bias
gender bias
large language models
text-to-image
professions
url https://www.mdpi.com/2673-2688/6/5/92
work_keys_str_mv AT dirkhrspennemann whoistoblameforthebiasinvisualizationschatgptordalle