How Innocean and pocstock are training AI to return more diverse images

Generative AI has well-known biases that affect its output. And rather than just refecting human biases, AI amplifies them. For example, while 22% of U.S. dentists are Asian, when AI is asked to generate an image of a dentist, it creates an image of an Asian person only 2.3% of the time. Agency Innocean is working to rectify this through a partnership with pocstock, a BIPOC-owned global stock image provider, to bring diverse, curated images that are 100%-AI ready to the AI ecosystem. The project, called “Breaking Bias,” includes organizing photo shoots with diverse talent to create new content to feed the datasets. Innocean has partnered with 16 photographers and 22 other agencies and production houses to create over 96,000 new pieces of content for Google, Adobe, Shutterstock, Microsoft, Canva, Amazon, and OpenAI to use for dataset training. The agency captured images of Black surfers, Hispanic skateboarders, Hispanic musicians, elderly LGBTQ+ families, Black CEOs and more. “Breaking Bias” also includes a guidebook to establish new multi-industry standards for inclusive AI, empowering creatives, businesses and tech developers to shape a future where AI accurately reflects the richness of human diversity. “This felt like it wouldn’t have much of an impact unless it became an industry project,” said Jason Sperling, chief creative officer of Innocean USA. “We went from having one photo shoot and starting to retrain AI to saying, what if we got dozens and dozens of partners who would take on one specific bias theme and, with enough muscle behind it, it might actually impact things.” Partners who are currently on board with the “Breaking Bias” project include FCB Global, David&Goliath, Lopez Negrete Communications, Orci, True Gent TV, Union, We Are Royale, Dipping Sauce, APM, The Sideway Life, Native Like Water, Contrast Eye Films, Great Day in the Stoke, Aquatic Future Foundation, Digital Media Licensing Association, Alltold AI, Ludulluu AI Trust Accelerator and Cactus Advertising. “Given that [the marketing industry] is the biggest users of stock photography and video, I think it’s got the scale,” Sperling said. “Attention begets more partners, so hopefully this compounds what we’re doing.” David Mesfin, creative director at Innocean, was one of the key architects of “Breaking Bias.” “One of the myths we often hear is that Black people don’t swim—much less surf,” he said. “While working on my documentary about Black surfers, AI kept generating white surfers with darkened skin. It was evident this technology hadn’t been designed to represent us accurately. Recognizing the need to tackle AI’s bias, my teammates and I collaborated with more than a dozen agency partners to challenge AI’s bias and push for true representation.” “We’re thankful for David’s vision and Innocean USA’s propensity for action,” said DeSean Brown, co-founder and chief relationship officer at pocstock. “We’ve sought this level of interest and engagement from companies in developing authentic and inclusive images for AI training—the industry needed a pioneer like Innocean USA to lead the way.”

How Innocean and pocstock are training AI to return more diverse images

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