To begin this blog, I will be truthful to the readers; I was not a person who followed columnists or even read columns. But through my blogging and commentary class, I have begun to appreciate the value that news outlets provide as well as reading particular journalists’ opinions. This is how I came to know Megan McArdle. She is a columnist for The Washington Post and I spent a day getting to know the ins and outs of her columns. McArdle is a right leaning columnist who writes about a slew of issues. Throughout her writing, her work is clear, concise, and easy to read. Oftentimes, political issues can become muddy to those who are not well versed in the world of politics but Megan McArdle does a swell job of explaining the topic at hand to her readers.

One of her columns that instantly caught my eye is her most recent work (at the time of writing this) which discusses issues of Google’s Gemini AI. This piqued my interest as I had just written an editorial discussing artificial intelligence’s shortcomings. McArdle goes into detail about how Gemini AI was centered around portraying diversity, especially in scenarios where the image should be a predominantly white image. Specifically not showing users white, male priests and white Nazis. Instead, Gemini AI displayed diverse women popes and non-aryan nazis. McArdle also goes into detail about how the AI was more concerned with not offending the left as opposed to the right. This was all very interesting for me to read after having researched into AI and what flaws these various models may have. 

After having lived my life not paying attention to any news outlets to being submerged in a news-filled world, it has been a joy learning the particulars of various journalists as well as the differing views they may all have. Going forward, Megan McArdle is someone I would enjoy reading more as well as other columnists in order to get a variety of viewpoints on current issues that are happening globally.

Female popes? Google’s amusing AI bias underscores a serious problem.