Over a year ago, I used Adobe Firefly (beta) to create an AI-generated image of my team. It struggled with the diverse nature of my team (which included two females and a diverse ethnicity).
I thought I’d give it another go to see how AI image generation had progressed. I tested a few different AI tools to see what results I would get.
Nano Banana Pro
Google’s Gemini (Nano Banana Pro) successfully generated a technology Barbie for me. She is working on a laptop with a pink smartwatch and a smart hot pink jacket. Her face looks similar to a Barbie with a classic blonde high-top pigtail and blue eyes. Fortunately, the cleavage is more normal!
She’s wearing a dark grey t-shirt that says, “Girls Who Code.” A nice nod to a leading organisation that supported women in the technology sector. Oddly, there are regular people in the background. The only tweak I requested was removing the ugly high-tech lab-style glasses.
Grok Imagine
Grok Imagine tries too hard and can overwhelm you with options. I ruled out the life-like attractive females. It seemed to lean towards silver high-tech outfits. Perhaps a little cyberpunk or even Star Trek vibes. Some of the dolls looked more like knockoffs. The accessories were ridiculous!
Adobe Firefly
Adobe Firefly lets you select an Adobe or Partner models. You can use various versions of GPT Image, Gemini, and FLUX. You can also change the image dimensions. I received four suggested images that were more manga-style than Barbie. It favoured a cyber punk look with pastel pink or pastel blue hair. A pop-up window suggested that my prompt was too short. When I tried to regenerate my original images, I received four new ones.
Conclusion
Yesterday, while shopping in the toy aisles of Big W, a primary school girl picked up an intriguing Mr Beast toy. She half-heartedly showed it to her dad. She muttered, “Probably for a boy,” and put it back. The father said nothing. Who is teaching her this?
Inclusive imagery is important to our beliefs about women’s interest in pursuing a career in information technology.
Disclaimer: All images are generated by AI for educational purposes.