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Image-generating AI is among the most popular generative AI applications, likely changing the visual mediated environments humans are exposed to on a mass scale. Prior work found that AI can be biased against women and minorities (algorithmic bias), whereas humans attribute rather high objectivity to AI. We focused on image-generating AI, analyzing the extent of algorithmic bias in AI-generated pictures, as well as human responses to bias in image-generating AI. Study 1 showed that AI-generated portraits of people in STEM professions were almost exclusively depicting male, white (and older) individuals. Study 2 (experimental, N = 495) showed that the responses to AI-generated pictures vary, depending on the portrayed group. Participants perceived pictures to be less biased if they were introduced as AI-generated, but only if pictures showed college students (vs. older people). If images showed older people, participants reported higher moral outrage if pictures were supposedly generated by AI (vs. human creators).
Messingschlager et al. (Wed,) studied this question.