Google is letting its users generate images of people through its Gemini AI chatbot again after pulling the feature earlier this year amid reports of historically inaccurate images, like racially diverse Nazis. In an announcement, Google says it will roll out an early access version of the capability to Gemini Advanced, Business, and Enterprise users in English “over the coming days.”

This upgrade will be powered by Imagen 3, the latest version of Google’s AI text-to-image generator. Google quietly launched Imagen 3 through its AI Test Kitchen earlier this month, and now it’s coming to Gemini across all languages. The upgraded tool is capable of generating anything from photorealistic landscapes to textured oil paintings with a description of “just a few words.”

This isn’t to be confused with Google’s new Remagine feature, which lets you incorporate AI elements into the photos shot on the company’s new lineup of Pixel 9 phones.

Additionally, Gemini won’t allow users to create photorealistic images of public figures; content involving minors; or gory, violent, and sexual scenes. “Of course, not every image Gemini creates will be perfect, but we’ll continue to listen to feedback from early access Gemini Advanced users as we keep improving,” Citron adds. Google plans to expand the ability to create AI-generated people to more users and languages soon.

In May 2024, around 200 employees at Google DeepMind (representing roughly 5 percent of the division) signed a letter urging the company to end its contracts with military organizations, expressing concerns that its AI technology was being used for warfare, Time magazine reported.

The letter states that employee concerns aren’t “about the geopolitics of any particular conflict,” but it does link out to Time’s reporting on Google’s defense contract with the Israeli military, known as Project Nimbus. The letter also points to reports that the Israeli military uses AI for mass surveillance and to select targets in its bombing campaign in Gaza, with Israeli weapon firms mandated by the government to purchase cloud services from Google and Amazon.

The use of AI in warfare has spread rapidly, pushing some technologists who build related systems to speak out. But Google also made a specific commitment: when it acquired DeepMind in 2014, the lab’s leaders required that their AI technology would never be used for military or surveillance purposes.

“Any involvement with military and weapon manufacturing impacts our position as leaders in ethical and responsible AI, and goes against our mission statement and stated AI Principles,” the letter that circulated inside Google DeepMind says. 

As Time reports, the letter from DeepMind staff urges leadership to investigate claims that Google cloud services are being used by militaries and weapons manufacturers, to cut off military access to DeepMind’s technology, and to establish a new governance body to prevent future use of the AI by military clients.

Time reports that despite employee concerns and calls for action, there has been “no meaningful response” from Google so far.