Black Entrepreneurs Innovate With Custom ChatGPTs To Offer Personalized User Experience

John Pasmore, a seasoned entrepreneur in the artificial intelligence space since around 2008, was initially enthusiastic about ChatGPT. He clearly remembers when experts predicted it would take decades for technology such as ChatGPT to emerge. Now, that day has arrived, but not without problems.

The cultural nuances that ChatGPT struggles with are particularly frustrating for Black users like Pasmore, according to TechCrunch. This oversight has angered many in the Black community who feel that algorithms, which promise to revolutionize the world, fail to adequately represent them. Current versions of ChatGPT often provide generic answers that do not address certain questions important to diverse communities. This reflects a bias in training that leans toward Eurocentric and Western perspectives. This issue is not unique, as most AI models are not designed to consider people of color. However, many Black founders are determined to prevent being left out or marginalized in the AI field.

Over the past year, several chatbots and customized versions of ChatGPT created by Black entrepreneurs have emerged. These innovations are particularly tailored to serve the needs of Black and brown communities, reflecting a strategic move by founders such as Pasmore to address the cultural gaps in OpenAI’s offerings.

Speaking of ChatGPT, Pasmore said, “If you ask the model generally who are some of the most important artists in our culture, it will give you Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. It’s not going to say anything about India or China, Africa, or even African Americans, because it has a bias that is focused on the European trajectory of history.” 

To bridge the gaps, Pasmore introduced Latimer.AI, a language model designed to provide responses that resonate with the experiences of Black and brown individuals. Erin Reddick also launched ChatBlackGPT, a chatbot focused on serving these communities. Across the world, initiatives like Spark Plug based in Canada offer alternatives to ChatGPT tailored for Black and brown students. In Africa, there is a rise in innovation revolving around the diversity of languages and dialects spoken across the continent, which continue to be overlooked by Western AI models.

“We are the keepers of our own stories and experiences,” the founder of Spark Plug, Tamar Huggins, said to TechCrunch. “We need to create systems and infrastructure, that we own and control, to ensure our data remains ours.”

ChatBlackGPT, which is still in beta mode, is expected to launch on Juneteenth. According to Reddick, “The algorithm prioritizes Black information sources so that it can speak to a body of knowledge that is more immediately relatable than your average experience.”