What AI knows about breast cancer: an exploratory visual discourse analysis on AI-generated breast cancer advertisement images

This study conducted an exploratory visual discourse analysis aiming to investigate how AI-generated breast cancer advertisement images understand and speak to the public about breast cancer. We found that breast cancer advertising culture and social biases toward breast cancer together profoundly influence the visual interpretation of breast cancer in AI-generated breast cancer advertising images. Specifically, we identified four dominant discourses (You should enjoy breast cancer; You should fear breast cancer; Pink is breast cancer; You can't face it), three dissenting discourses (The calm elderly breast cancer patients; The association of breast cancer with women's nurturing function; The mutually supportive and friendly female social supporters) and two invisible discourses (Medical information about breast cancer; The absence of male figures). This study suggests the need to avoid a homogeneous and generalized understanding of AI image generation algorithms and provides suggestions for brands to review AI-generated images of breast cancer advertisements.