Pixel

Pixel's camera improved after Google swapped a six-tone skin scale for ten tones. Google's team found the Fitzpatrick scale it used for evaluations had only six skin tones, was built for healthcare, and skewed very light. Working with Harvard professor Ellis Monk, they rebuilt their evaluations around his 10-tone Monk scale, which was used to improve Pixel camera work and skin tone representation in image generation.

The Monk scale came from years of interviews and research. Tulsee Doshi, who led product for Google's responsible AI team for six years, put it this way: "six skin tones cannot capture the diversity of skin tones in the world." The lesson is to check whether an eval's yardstick was built for a different purpose than yours.

Lenny's Podcast▶ 27:55

Pixel users on Gboard get early access to the Rambler feature. Pixel users can try the Rambler feature through Gboard, Google's keyboard.

Lenny's Podcast