Exclusive: GLAAD's CEO says AI bias puts LGBTQ+ people at risk
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GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. Photo: Axios live screenshot.
AI has been trained on biased data that can reinforce harmful stereotypes and spread misinformation about LGBTQ+ people, GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said Wednesday at the Axios AI+ NY summit.
Why it matters: AI is increasingly embedded across platforms, and companies must ensure it is trained responsibly because the harm can extend far beyond digital communications.
What they're saying: "I think you'd have to be asleep at the wheel to not see the attacks that are happening against the LGBTQ community, mostly the trans and nonbinary community, but it's all happening together," Ellis told Axios' Ina Fried on Wednesday.
- "What that means, though, is that as these AI models are learning, they're learning with this information and rhetoric coming into them," she said.
Zoom in: Ellis previewed an upcoming GLAAD report outlining recommendations to reduce bias in AI systems.
- She said errors in proprietary models such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude can spread across dependent systems.
- Therefore, those foundational models need to ensure their material is accurate.
Zoom out: Ellis also stressed the need for strong privacy controls on chatbots, including the ability to opt out of sharing your information with the agents to protect against potential persecution.
- "AI models can detect who you are by the questions you ask and what you're doing, and in 60 countries it's still illegal to be LGBTQ+. So if you're criminalized in a country and it's now identifying you as LGBTQ, there is some real risk there."
The bottom line: If AI isn't properly trained to represent LGBTQ+ people, it fails everyone, Ellis said.
- "If you just think about putting 1% of the money that all these folks are raising to help fix the foundation of this, it would go an enormous way to make this a safer platform, not just for LGBTQ people, but for everyone and every family," she said.
- "Trust is the biggest currency with AI, and whoever wins this trust war wins the AI war."
Go deeper: GLAAD: Social media companies are enabling real-world violence
