Humanoid robots, glowing brains, outstretched robot hands, blue backgrounds, and the Terminator.
These stereotypes are not just overworked, they can be surprisingly unhelpful.
Abstract, futuristic or science-fiction-inspired images of AI hinder the understanding of the technology’s already significant societal and environmental impacts.
Images relating machine intelligence to human intelligence set unrealistic expectations and misstate the capabilities of AI.
Images representing AI as sentient robots mask the accountability of the humans actually developing the technology, and can suggest the presence of robots where there are none.
Such images potentially sow fear, and research shows they can be laden with historical assumptions about gender, ethnicity and religion.
However, finding alternatives can be difficult! That’s why we, a non-profit collaboration, are researching, creating, curating and providing Better Images of AI.
Quantified Human - Alan Warburton
Classification Cupboard - Anton Grabolle
Banana / Plant / Flask - Max Gruber
Silicon on Black 1 - Catherine Breslin
GPU shot etched 1 - Fritzchens Fritz
A trainer instructing a data annotator on how to label images - Nacho Kamenov
Our library is the start of a new alternative repository of stock images. They are available for anyone to use for free under CC licences, or just as inspiration for more helpful and diverse representations of AI.