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Gorillas have black and human-like faces. I think they're just quite similar so AI can more easily confuse them.

hnick 5y ago
Now you've made me wonder what it thinks about albino gorillas. e: I assume something similar has been done before by training a model on brown/black bears then throwing polar bears at it. Anyone know the outcome?
sluggosaurus 5y ago
> Gorillas have black and human-like faces. Chimpanzees often have 'white' and human-life faces. Are these algorithms ever classifying white people as chimpanzees? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimpanzee#/media/File:Chimpanzee_Ham_in_Biopack_Couch_for_MR-2_flight_MSFC-6100114.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimpanzee#/media/File:Chimpan...
0x426577617265 5y ago
I’m fairly certain if you showed pictures of both groups to a toddler they’d be able to sort them correctly. It’s really not hard for a human to tell the difference. Which tells me that FB’s AI isn’t really that great.
- SilverRed 5y ago
  I saw another article which included a screenshot of the mistake on facebook. The photo is blurry, and contains a side view of the person and iirc the backdrop is in nature. The main indicator that it was a person was the fact they were wearing clothing. Clearly the AI is not good enough, but I will admit that the data it was working on is tricky to achieve perfect accuracy.
  - 0x426577617265 5y ago
    The article I saw with the screenshot was from NYTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/technology/facebook-ai-race-primates.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/technology/facebook-ai-ra...
maweki 5y ago
Human-like really depends on your interpretation. That's a generous reading of what's going on. If you google Gorilla faces, I don't think you would be confused. The AI is not that smart and these examples show it.
- exporectomy 5y ago
  Us humans are super good at distinguishing faces. So what's obviously different to us might not be so clear to an AI or another species.
  - OneEyedRobot 5y ago
    >Us humans are super good at distinguishing faces. It would be interesting to test a bunch of midwesterners at their ability to tell Asians apart or to be able to distinguish various Asian ethnicities. My guess is that a lot of the distinguishing features that they look for are altered or missing.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - Helloworldboy 5y ago
      Do you think that there aren’t large asian populations in the midwest? Do you think the entirety of the midwest consists of rural white populations? Most of the country by landmass consists of rural white communities, not only the midwest. Sounds like you may have some innate bias that you need to sort out yourself
    - maweki 5y ago
      And while that is probably true for most of us and gorilla faces, even those midwesterners would easily distinguish an Asian person from a Gorilla. It's true that we're good at recognizing faces (even where there are none), and distinguishing on a basic level (type of animal) but specific faces are mostly cultural.
  - MisterBastahrd 5y ago
__MatrixMan__ 5y ago
Is it even a confusion? Humans are primates. It's weird that it selected such a broad label, but it didn't select an incorrect label.
- t-3 5y ago
  "Human supremacist" attitudes are incredibly common. Look at any discussion of animal intelligence and you'll see the most vehement denials of any possibility that our cognition and emotions aren't unique in the world.

Now you've made me wonder what it thinks about albino gorillas. e: I assume something similar has been done before by training a model on brown/black bears then throwing polar bears at it. Anyone know the outcome?

sluggosaurus 5y ago

> Gorillas have black and human-like faces. Chimpanzees often have 'white' and human-life faces. Are these algorithms ever classifying white people as chimpanzees? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimpanzee#/media/File:Chimpanzee_Ham_in_Biopack_Couch_for_MR-2_flight_MSFC-6100114.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimpanzee#/media/File:Chimpan...

0x426577617265 5y ago

I’m fairly certain if you showed pictures of both groups to a toddler they’d be able to sort them correctly. It’s really not hard for a human to tell the difference. Which tells me that FB’s AI isn’t really that great.

SilverRed 5y ago
I saw another article which included a screenshot of the mistake on facebook. The photo is blurry, and contains a side view of the person and iirc the backdrop is in nature. The main indicator that it was a person was the fact they were wearing clothing. Clearly the AI is not good enough, but I will admit that the data it was working on is tricky to achieve perfect accuracy.
- 0x426577617265 5y ago
  The article I saw with the screenshot was from NYTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/technology/facebook-ai-race-primates.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/technology/facebook-ai-ra...

maweki 5y ago

Human-like really depends on your interpretation. That's a generous reading of what's going on. If you google Gorilla faces, I don't think you would be confused. The AI is not that smart and these examples show it.

exporectomy 5y ago
Us humans are super good at distinguishing faces. So what's obviously different to us might not be so clear to an AI or another species.
- OneEyedRobot 5y ago
  >Us humans are super good at distinguishing faces. It would be interesting to test a bunch of midwesterners at their ability to tell Asians apart or to be able to distinguish various Asian ethnicities. My guess is that a lot of the distinguishing features that they look for are altered or missing.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - Helloworldboy 5y ago
    Do you think that there aren’t large asian populations in the midwest? Do you think the entirety of the midwest consists of rural white populations? Most of the country by landmass consists of rural white communities, not only the midwest. Sounds like you may have some innate bias that you need to sort out yourself
  - maweki 5y ago
    And while that is probably true for most of us and gorilla faces, even those midwesterners would easily distinguish an Asian person from a Gorilla. It's true that we're good at recognizing faces (even where there are none), and distinguishing on a basic level (type of animal) but specific faces are mostly cultural.
- MisterBastahrd 5y ago

__MatrixMan__ 5y ago

Is it even a confusion? Humans are primates. It's weird that it selected such a broad label, but it didn't select an incorrect label.

t-3 5y ago
"Human supremacist" attitudes are incredibly common. Look at any discussion of animal intelligence and you'll see the most vehement denials of any possibility that our cognition and emotions aren't unique in the world.