How MissJourney Made AI More Equal
You’ve heard of Midjourney, DALL·E, Stable Diffusion and all of the other tools that have come from the AI image-generating space. But did you know that according to these platforms, less than 20% of ‘professionals’ come up as women. Shocking? A little. In need of a change? Most certainly.
That’s where Amsterdam based agency ACE and TEDxAmsterdamWomen come into play. The collaboration between the two created a new AI image software tool named ‘MissJourney’, launched on International Women's Day and created to raise awareness about technology’s gender bias. The tool and campaign had the aim of inspiring developers and creators to build fundamentally inclusive technology that is representative of society as a whole.
With a diverse team behind the scenes, the platform represents women of all different ethnicities and backgrounds in many job roles, people that the alternative AI softwares wouldn’t put forward as a search result. If you’re looking for a doctor, lawyer, actor, engineer or superhero, women and girls are able to find an image that looks like them and it works to not only champion representation, but to show that any career path is achievable. Having been used across 147 different countries and with 163,000 unique images created since MissJourey launched, it’s clear that more representation is not only necessary, but sought after on AI platforms.
The team at ACE, consisting of creative director Sjors van Hoof, strategy director Amber Haank and managing director Dorien Kuiken, all speak to LBB’s Nisna Mahtani about the spot.
LBB> Let's start with when you first realised that less than 20% of ‘professionals’, according to AI, are women. How did you feel, and what were the first steps you took to change that?
Sjors, Amber & Dorien> At ACE, we have a natural interest in tech, so AI bias came to our attention. We started testing the AI text-to-image generators based on professions, and the results were extremely male-based. In the end, we did a total of 2,000 searches based on an extensive list of professions and roles (think; hero, leader, doctor, athlete, politician, keynote speaker and many more) on three different AI tools to prove our point. The ‘Midjourney’ AI tool was key to our inspiration, as it's the most biased one but also produces high quality AI imagery. These findings were the start of ‘MissJourney’: the world's first AI tool built to challenge traditional patterns and stereotypes.
LBB> When did the collaboration with TEDxAmsterdam Women first get mentioned?
Sjors, Amber & Dorien> Right at the start, they’re a natural fit! TEDxAmsterdamWomen is a powerful platform that amplifies the voices and stories of women and promotes a more inclusive and equitable world. And the digital world is no exception.
LBB> How did you begin creating the Missjourney.ai website, and what were you and the client keen to include?
Sjors, Amber & Dorien> We started by exploring how to combat gender bias in AI. After countless trials, we created a new built-in logic on top of existing AI. When MissJourney is asked to imagine a portrait of a CEO, athlete, or leader, rather than producing the usual male stereotype examples, this AI tool creates diverse female-led artworks. This way, MissJourney actively contributes to representative digital art.
Our intention always was to make AI accessible to everyone. Current AI tools like Midjourney are complex tech systems built for code-savvy early adopters. In contrast, MissJourney is a free, easy-to-use, and the most accessible AI tool out there. No coding, no experience, and no accounts needed.
LBB> What struck me is the sheer amount of diversity you've made sure is available to view. Why was it important for every woman to be able to see a face they recognize in themselves?
Sjors, Amber & Dorien> As an industry, we know how important representation is. Representation influences the way people perceive themselves and others, and it can also have a significant impact on how individuals are treated in society. When women are represented in diverse and positive ways in the media, it can help to challenge stereotypes and contribute to a more realistic and accurate portrayal of women - and can therefore help to create a more equitable society. Women make up approximately half of the world's population, yet they have historically been underrepresented in many areas, including politics, business, and media. By increasing female representation, we can work towards achieving gender equality.
In addition, we believe that representation goes beyond making sure everybody recognises themselves in the media; it also works to empower them. When women are represented in positions of power or leadership, it can inspire other women and girls to believe that they can achieve those positions too. Seeing positive female role models can help increase confidence and self-esteem and help girls and women make their dreams and ambitions come true.
LBB> And how did you go about including so many different cultures and aesthetics?
Sjors, Amber & Dorien> The simple answer is that we've been working with a diverse team on this. This mix of perspectives ensured a diverse outcome. Also, because the topic itself had everything to do with diversity and bias, we were quite conscious about selecting and creating the range of images. We tried to be as inclusive as we could, paying attention to not just gender but cultural background, age, body type, skin colour, and whatnot.
But we can always do better. For example, the women in the AI imagery are all quite beautiful, which can be seen as an unfair representation. This shows how hard it is to get that inclusive imagery out of AI tooling being a user, and how important it is that the technology itself is being built fundamentally inclusive.
LBB> How did you decide on launching this around International Women's Day? What was the impact you wanted to achieve?
Sjors, Amber & Dorien> This was one of those moments where everything fell together: we first had the insight and International Women's Day was only a couple of weeks away. We immediately knew that this was the right moment to create awareness around MissJourney. With €0 media budget and a non-profit partner, we knew we had to leverage the organic reach and momentum. For the launch, this has definitely helped us, but our intention was always to go beyond International Women's Day and give it attention throughout the year. This was just the start of our deep dive into AI and its potential and boundaries.
LBB> So far, what have the responses to the campaign been like?
Sjors, Amber & Dorien> People all over the world embraced the message. Within two weeks, 147 different countries visited MissJourney.ai and 163,000 unique images were created, and counting. Encouraging people to share their search results with their social network to spark conversation. With a €0 media budget and a global media reach of 103 million, MissJourney was covered by national and international TV, radio, podcasts, and other media outlets.
LBB> What do you hope the next step from here will be? How can we make the AI space more inclusive?
Sjors, Amber & Dorien> MissJourney, the name says it all - it’s a journey. We’re working closely with TEDxWomen on a year-long program that supports women in tech, including talks, workshops, mentorship courses and panels themed around ‘Decoding the Future’; a program on the journey to disrupt the codes that society has agreed to for so long, uncover ways to change them, break them and build equality despite them.
Our goal is to raise awareness and spark the conversation. Eventually, we are not the ones building the technology that’s becoming commonplace. We hope to make the people that are building those tools aware of their bias. And more so, make them aware of the power they have to contribute to equal representation and inclusive technology. Towards users as well, to make them aware that they have to remain critical when it comes to technology, don’t follow blindly and be conscious of what you (re)produce.
LBB> Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Sjors, Amber & Dorien> The time to act is now. If we don’t build technology in a fundamentally inclusive way, right from the start, chances are we create a world like the one we know today, one built on unequal structures and, for example, harmful stereotypes. This is why we need your help. By generating images through MissJourney and sharing them, we create awareness. The more we are aware, the bigger chance we have to create inclusive AI that serves us all. So join the movement and change the pattern: missjourney.ai
What would you do if you had the chance to (re)build the world?
#MissJourney #ChangeThePattern #TedXwomen
*Disclaimer: MissJourney generates AI imagery featuring only women. While we recognise that true diversity goes beyond gender, MissJourney is launched on International Women's Day to raise awareness about gender bias. Our aim is to inspire developers and creators to build fundamentally inclusive technology that enables users to generate imagery that is representative of society as a whole.
