AI-generated images spark uproar over Korean gender stereotypes and grievances

Social Affairs

Published: 18 Jan. 2024, 16:02

AI-generated images spark uproar over Korean gender stereotypes and grievances

AI-generated image of Korean men (right) and women which was posted in an online forum last Friday. In the picture, men undergo military training in their uniforms while women laugh and chat in a cafe. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Online controversy is brewing over a set of AI-generated viral images that some internet users argue reinforce gender stereotypes about young Korean men and women.

A pair of images titled “Korean men and women drawn by AI” were posted in an online forum last Friday.

The striking differences between the men and women in the images sparked the debate.

In the first image, four Korean women enjoy themselves in a cafe while dozens of Korean men undergo military training in the snow.

The second image echoed this theme.

AI-generated image of Korean men and women posted in an online forum last Friday. In the picture, men (left) in military uniforms hold guns while women sit in a cafe. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Men in military uniforms hold guns with glum expressions while their female counterparts laugh in a cafe.

Some internet users said the images “simply reflected reality” and asked what all the hubbub was about.

Others fired back, saying the images were deliberately created based on specific prompts or keywords to reflect certain gender grievances.

They argue AI can produce such images only when it receives detailed queries such as, “Draw dejected Korean men wearing military uniforms and smiling Korean women sitting in a cafe chatting,”

AI image generator Wrtn shows Korean men and women standing together in ordinary clothes. [WRTN / MONEYTODAY]

According to local media outlet MoneyToday’s report on Friday, AI-based image generators Wrtn and Rasgo AI did not deliver images like the ones that went viral.

The reporter asked the AI services to draw “a group portrait of Korean men and women in their 20s.”

Wrtn’s images showed Korean men and women standing together in everyday clothing. The images did not depict a particular background, such as a cafe or a military encampment.

AI image generator, Rasgo, delivers images of men and women. [RASGO / MONEYTODAY]

Rasgo’s images were also far from polarizing. One cartoonish image showed a man and two women on the street. The other depicted well-dressed men and women in formal suits.

An internet user wrote, “AI never creates images [like ones posted in the online forum] based on a simple request to draw Korean men and women in their 20s.”

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]