Still available via API, the developer-facing AI isn’t even really designed to answer general-purpose questions
If Google’s Gemma were an employee, it might be facing HR right now. The company yanked the model from AI Studio after it allegedly invented criminal accusations about a US senator and a conservative activist. However, it seems like the aggrieved parties went out of their way to get the offending output.
Gemma was pulled from the Chocolate Factory’s web-based integrated AI development environment, AI Studio, on Friday, the company explained in a thread on X. Despite being pulled from AI Studio itself, Gemma is still accessible through an API, the company noted.
While Google didn’t explicitly say why it pulled Gemma from AI Studio, the move came after a lawsuit from conservative social media personality Robby Starbuck, who accused Google AI systems of falsely calling him a child rapist and sex criminal. Starbuck’s lawsuit focused on hallucinations (i.e., fabricated facts and information) from Bard – now known as Gemini – back in 2023, as well as Gemma, which the lawsuit claims happened in August.
Starbuck’s allegations were echoed by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who on Friday said that Gemma made up accusations against her of engaging in non-consensual sex acts and pressuring a former partner to obtain prescription drugs for her, both of which Blackburn asserts are false.
As far as Blackburn is concerned, she and Starbuck’s experiences are indicative of a pattern of bias against conservative figures.
“Whether intentional or the result of ideologically biased training data, the effect is the same: Google’s AI models are shaping dangerous political narratives by spreading falsehoods about conservatives and eroding public trust”, Blackburn said.
