{"id":3663,"date":"2024-10-08T19:32:08","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T19:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hectorkott.com\/?p=3663"},"modified":"2024-10-08T19:32:08","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T19:32:08","slug":"does-gay-face-actually-exist-experts-have-brilliant-response-to-pseudo-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hectorkott.com\/?p=3663","title":{"rendered":"Does \u2018gay face\u2019 actually exist? Experts have brilliant response to pseudo-science"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/SEI_224792028-c573.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1024\" width=\"1920\" alt=\"A grab from a YouTube video showingthe same man's face, side by side, generated by AI\" class=\"wp-image-21757312\" height=\"1080\"><\/div><figcaption>Can you really tell if someone is gay just by looking at their face?(Picture: ASAPScience)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So-called \u2018<a data-track=\"inline-tag-auto-link_article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/gay\/?ico=auto_link_news_P1_LNK1\">gay<\/a> face\u2019 has been in the media again this week after a video went viral claiming it existed. <\/p>\n<p>YouTube <a data-track=\"inline-tag-auto-link_article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/science\/?ico=auto_link_news_P2_LNK1\">science<\/a> teachers Mitch Moffit and Greg Brown cited controversial research that found gay people have different physical features than their straight counterparts.<\/p>\n<p>Their claims that AI could be trained to recognise someone\u2019s sexuality were picked up in newspaper reports \u2013 but experts in the field said they strongly doubted this was reliable.<\/p>\n<p>Dominic Lees, a professor specialising in AI at the University of Reading, said Moffit and Brown had not carried out any original research, but had only reviewed earlier studies. <\/p>\n<p>He told <strong>Metro<\/strong>: \u2018Those studies have clearly not been peer-reviewed. An academic review of the work would point out that every image shown is of a white person\u2019s face, despite the report\u2019s claims to make universal observations about \u201cgay face\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018On this issue alone, the report cannot be trusted. Physiognomy varies greatly with ethnicity, ruling out any attempt to make generalisations on sexuality.\u2019<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/SEI_224792026-a6a5.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1024\" width=\"1920\" alt=\"A grab from the YouTube video \" class=\"wp-image-21757314\" height=\"1080\"><\/div><figcaption>Minute differences in small facial features might point to someone being gay, they claimed (Picture: ASAPScience)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the video on their <a data-track=\"inline-tag-auto-link_article\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/youtube\/?ico=auto_link_news_P7_LNK1\">YouTube<\/a> channel \u2018AsapSCIENCE\u2019, Moffit and Brown said prior research found gay men had shorter noses and larger foreheads, while lesbians have \u2018upturned noses and smaller foreheads\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>They referred to this phenomenon as \u2018gay face\u2019 \u2014\u00a0the theory that homosexuals have certain facial characteristics in common. <\/p>\n<p>But the research they highlighted has been critiqued in the past, with critics calling it \u2018dangerous\u2019 and \u2018junk science\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Cybersecurity expert James Bore told <strong>Metro <\/strong>that studies like these come with a range of ethical and accuracy issues, including potential biases in AI.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Bore said: \u2018We don\u2019t know what data they\u2019ve included or what data they\u2019ve used, how they\u2019ve trained the model or the assumptions that have been applied. We don\u2019t know how they selected the data or if they cherry picked it.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018This information should be included in the detail of the actual publication, but often they aren\u2019t or often they\u2019re glossed over.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018There\u2019s been this view that AI is infallible, that just saying \u201cwe used an AI model\u201d means this is perfectly accurate, where actually what we\u2019ve seen time and time again, models not only carry on human biases but enshrine them in an authoritative way.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s junk science, it\u2019s superstition, and we do not have the data to say whether there\u2019s anything to it or not.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>And even when AI is not involved, there is still the question of ethics.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Bore explained: \u2018There are issues around prejudices, around outing people who don\u2019t want to be outed or identifying people who may not want to be identified as part of a particular group for whatever reason.\u2019<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A controversial history<\/h2>\n<p>Researchers have previously tried to establish whether or not it\u2019s possible to tell someone\u2019s sexuality based on their face \u2014\u00a0and were heavily criticised for it.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, an AI model from Stanford University was criticised for using photos from dating apps to discern if someone was gay or straight, based on their facial features and sexual preference on the app.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers behind Stanford\u2019s model later described criticism of their model as a \u2018knee-jerk reaction\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>But Mr Bore pointed out the dangers of taking this kind of study at face value. <\/p>\n<p>He said: \u2018People have been persecuted and died in the past because this sort of research has been used to identify people as part of a group, and then they\u2019ve been imprisoned, killed, driven out of countries.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018But we have knee jerk reactions for a reason, and anyone involved in this study really needs to stop and think and consider the potential consequences, especially if they\u2019re going to release the model.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We have countries where being gay is a criminal offence. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018Any technology or facial studies which claim to be able to identify someone\u2019s sexuality based on their face in those countries is going to be abused.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, it was revealed that the UK <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2023\/03\/29\/uk-government-sets-out-plans-to-regulate-responsible-use-of-ai-18523001\/\">plans to split responsibility for governing\u00a0artificial intelligence\u00a0(AI) <\/a>between its regulators for human rights, health and safety, and competition, rather than creating a new body dedicated to the technology.<\/p>\n<p>AI, which is rapidly evolving with advances such as the ChatGPT app, could improve productivity and help unlock growth. <\/p>\n<p>But there are concerns about the risks it could pose to people\u2019s privacy, human rights or safety, the government said.<\/p>\n<p>With the aim of striking a balance between regulation and innovation, the government plans to use existing regulators in different sectors rather than giving responsibility for AI governance to a new single regulator.<\/p>\n<p>It said that over the next 12 months, existing regulators would issue practical guidance to organisations, as well as other tools and resources like risk assessment templates.<\/p>\n<p><strong><strong><strong>Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"mailto:webnews@metro.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>For more stories like this, <\/strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\nFuente: https:\/\/ift.tt\/kENKd1i<br \/>\nPublicado: October 8, 2024 at 10:18AM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can you really tell if someone is gay just by looking at their face?(Picture: ASAPScience) So-called \u2018gay face\u2019 has been in the media again this week after a video went viral claiming it existed. YouTube science teachers Mitch Moffit and Greg Brown cited controversial research that found gay people have different physical features than their&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[75,76,77],"class_list":["post-3663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-news","tag-noticias","tag-viral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hectorkott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hectorkott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hectorkott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hectorkott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hectorkott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hectorkott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3664,"href":"https:\/\/hectorkott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663\/revisions\/3664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hectorkott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hectorkott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hectorkott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}