The Sex Show in "Midjourney": The Stubborn Biases and Gender Fantasies of AI Painting Tools

Abstract

Currently, AI drawing has made significant progress, with various AI drawing software and tools emerging. However, the binary gender concepts present in AI drawing have sparked discussions and controversies among users. These gender concepts manifest as inherent stereotypes and societal biases in the gender expression and portrayal within AI-generated images. The "Midjourney" AI painting tool is utilized in this study to generate prompts encompassing gender narratives, produce corresponding AI images, conduct data statistics on these images, and perform visual symbol analysis on the image content, so as to investigate the degree of gender fluidity. The results reveal that "Midjourney" exhibits distinct gender biases in gender roles, gender features, appearance, clothing, and color presentation. This suggests a low level of gender fluidity in AI drawing tools, indicating significant gender biases and stereotypes, along with visual cultural features dominated by male influences.