Creative agency MullenLowe MENA is launching a groundbreaking campaign that seeks to address one of the biggest and unexplored risks of artificial intelligence – gender bias.
A 2020 UNESCO research report on “Artificial Intelligence and Gender Equality" was the starting point of MullenLowe MENA’s “Fixing the bAIs” campaign. Research showed that AI risks harming labor market opportunities and women’s economic empowerment due to job automation.
The agency wishes to tackle the root of this problem by addressing how AI tools classify gender representation in a creative campaign. MullenLowe MENA asked for various tools to create images of different professions and job roles, from CEOs and mechanical engineers to teachers and nurses.
The results showcased male representation for job roles that have stereotypically been considered masculine, proving that even AI is prone to discrimination. “Fixing the bAIs” was born out of an attempt to establish an accurate representation of various professions.
By using artificial intelligence tools such as Stable Diffusion and DALL –E, the agency is building an image bank of female representation across different job roles and industries. The database can currently be found in the format of an open website, or through the agency's Discord channel, where anyone can contribute and update the data sets which are then used to improve the training of AI systems.
“As a leader in the advertising industry, we recognise the important role that AI plays in shaping the world around us, but equally, there is clearly significant bias within these systems, which perpetuates harmful stereotypes and limits opportunities for women. We’re asking colleagues, partners, clients and the wider industry to join us in helping re-train AI to break the AI gender bias,” said MullenLowe MENA’s CEO Mounir Harfouche.
In a clever and empowering twist, the creative agency is using AI-generated images which will serve as references for training artificial intelligence tools to break gender bias, creating a more equal and inclusive job market in the future.
