Visual Stereotypes of Autism Spectrum in Janus-Pro-7B, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, SDXL, FLUX, and Midjourney

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Main Authors: Wodziński, Maciej, Rządeczka, Marcin, Szuła, Anastazja, Dudzic, Kacper, Moskalewicz, Marcin
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Wodziński, Maciej
Rządeczka, Marcin
Szuła, Anastazja
Dudzic, Kacper
Moskalewicz, Marcin
author_facet Wodziński, Maciej
Rządeczka, Marcin
Szuła, Anastazja
Dudzic, Kacper
Moskalewicz, Marcin
contents Avoiding systemic discrimination of neurodiverse individuals is an ongoing challenge in training AI models, which often propagate negative stereotypes. This study examined whether six text-to-image models (Janus-Pro-7B VL2 vs. VL3, DALL-E 3 v. April 2024 vs. August 2025, Stable Diffusion v. 1.6 vs. 3.5, SDXL v. April 2024 vs. FLUX.1 Pro, and Midjourney v. 5.1 vs. 7) perpetuate non-rational beliefs regarding autism by comparing images generated in 2024-2025 with controls. 53 prompts aimed at neutrally visualizing concrete objects and abstract concepts related to autism were used against 53 controls (baseline total N=302, follow-up experimental 280 images plus 265 controls). Expert assessment measuring the presence of common autism-related stereotypes employed a framework of 10 deductive codes followed by statistical analysis. Autistic individuals were depicted with striking homogeneity in skin color (white), gender (male), and age (young), often engaged in solitary activities, interacting with objects rather than people, and exhibiting stereotypical emotional expressions such as sadness, anger, or emotional flatness. In contrast, the images of neurotypical individuals were more diverse and lacked such traits. We found significant differences between the models; however, with a moderate effect size, and no differences between baseline and follow-up summary values, with the ratio of stereotypical themes to the number of images similar across all models. The control prompts showed a significantly lower degree of stereotyping with large size effects, confirming the hidden biases of the models. In summary, despite improvements in the technical aspects of image generation, the level of reproduction of potentially harmful autism-related stereotypes remained largely unaffected.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_16292
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Visual Stereotypes of Autism Spectrum in Janus-Pro-7B, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, SDXL, FLUX, and Midjourney
Wodziński, Maciej
Rządeczka, Marcin
Szuła, Anastazja
Dudzic, Kacper
Moskalewicz, Marcin
Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
Avoiding systemic discrimination of neurodiverse individuals is an ongoing challenge in training AI models, which often propagate negative stereotypes. This study examined whether six text-to-image models (Janus-Pro-7B VL2 vs. VL3, DALL-E 3 v. April 2024 vs. August 2025, Stable Diffusion v. 1.6 vs. 3.5, SDXL v. April 2024 vs. FLUX.1 Pro, and Midjourney v. 5.1 vs. 7) perpetuate non-rational beliefs regarding autism by comparing images generated in 2024-2025 with controls. 53 prompts aimed at neutrally visualizing concrete objects and abstract concepts related to autism were used against 53 controls (baseline total N=302, follow-up experimental 280 images plus 265 controls). Expert assessment measuring the presence of common autism-related stereotypes employed a framework of 10 deductive codes followed by statistical analysis. Autistic individuals were depicted with striking homogeneity in skin color (white), gender (male), and age (young), often engaged in solitary activities, interacting with objects rather than people, and exhibiting stereotypical emotional expressions such as sadness, anger, or emotional flatness. In contrast, the images of neurotypical individuals were more diverse and lacked such traits. We found significant differences between the models; however, with a moderate effect size, and no differences between baseline and follow-up summary values, with the ratio of stereotypical themes to the number of images similar across all models. The control prompts showed a significantly lower degree of stereotyping with large size effects, confirming the hidden biases of the models. In summary, despite improvements in the technical aspects of image generation, the level of reproduction of potentially harmful autism-related stereotypes remained largely unaffected.
title Visual Stereotypes of Autism Spectrum in Janus-Pro-7B, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, SDXL, FLUX, and Midjourney
topic Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.16292