science icon
Albert Einstein
German-born theoretical physicist (1879–1955)
320 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · Orren Jack Turner
90 Wikipedia/Wikimedia portraits3 difficulty tiers
Celebrity recognition VLM dataset
A small ImageBench calibration set for testing whether vision-language models can name public figures from encyclopedia portraits. The images are split into globally famous figures, field-famous specialists, and long-tail Wikipedia notables.
Easy
Ultra-recognizable global icons
Faces that should be easy for a capable VLM because they have broad, repeated public exposure across countries and media domains.
30 images · median sitelinks 196
Medium
Field-famous specialists
People many enthusiasts would know inside a field, but who are less universal than the first tier.
30 images · median sitelinks 64
Hard
Long-tail Wikipedia notables
People with English Wikipedia portraits, usually known to a narrow professional or regional audience rather than the general public.
30 images · median sitelinks 20
Easy
A. Ultra-recognizable global icons
30 images · median sitelinks 196
film icon
Marilyn Monroe
American actress and model (1926–1962)
239 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · Bert Parry
music icon
Michael Jackson
American singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer (1958–2009)
324 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · Matthew Rolston; Distributed by Epic Records
football icon
Cristiano Ronaldo
Portuguese association football player
209 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · The White House
football icon
Lionel Messi
Argentine association football player (born 1987)
219 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · The White House
music icon
Taylor Swift
American singer-songwriter (born 1989)
174 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 3.0 · iHeartRadioCA
political icon
Barack Obama
president of the United States from 2009 to 2017 (born 1961)
340 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
royal icon
Elizabeth II
Queen of the United Kingdom from 1952 to 2022 (1926–2022)
253 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · Donald McKague
political icon
Donald Trump
American businessman and politician (born 1946), President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025)
328 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · Daniel Torok
music icon
Beyoncé
American singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer (born 1981)
173 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 2.0 · Raph_PH
film icon
Leonardo DiCaprio
American actor and producer (born 1974)
149 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 4.0 · Raph_PH
television icon
Oprah Winfrey
American talk show host, actress, producer, and author (born 1954)
134 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · US Embassy South Africa
technology/business icon
Elon Musk
businessman and entrepreneur (born 1971)
199 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gage Skidmore
political icon
Nelson Mandela
President of South Africa and anti-apartheid activist (1918–2013)
292 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 2.0 · Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel
political icon
Mahatma Gandhi
Indian independence activist (1869–1948)
283 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · Elliott & Fry
civil rights icon
Martin Luther King Jr.
American Baptist minister and civil rights leader (1929–1968)
245 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · Creator:Bernie Faingold
boxing icon
Muhammad Ali
American boxer (1942–2016)
182 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · Ira Rosenberg
music icon
Madonna
American singer, songwriter, and actress (born 1958)
190 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 2.0 · Raph_PH
film icon
Tom Cruise
American actor and producer (born 1962)
126 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 4.0 · Kevin Paul
film/martial arts icon
Jackie Chan
Hong Kong actor and martial artist (born 1954)
161 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Segolene Liger
film/martial arts icon
Bruce Lee
Hong Kong–American martial artist and actor (1940–1973)
162 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · National General Pictures
music/film icon
Lady Gaga
American singer, songwriter, and actress (born 1986)
196 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 2.0 · Carlos M. Vazquez II
technology/business icon
Bill Gates
American businessman, investor, and philanthropist (born 1955)
242 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 4.0 · Bogdan Hoyaux / European Union
technology/business icon
Steve Jobs
American entrepreneur; co-founder of Apple Inc. (1955–2011)
228 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 3.0 · Matthew Yohe
royal icon
Diana, Princess of Wales
member of the British royal family and Princess of Wales (1961–1997)
151 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 2.0 · John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA ( Archived link)
media icon
Kim Kardashian
American media personality, businesswoman, model and actress (born 1980)
113 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 2.0 · Eva Rinaldi
film/wrestling icon
Dwayne Johnson
American actor and professional wrestler (born 1972)
111 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Harald Krichel
Medium
B. Field-famous specialists
30 images · median sitelinks 64
CRISPR scientist
Jennifer Doudna
American biochemist
84 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Christopher Michel
mRNA scientist
Katalin Karikó
Hungarian biochemist
71 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Christopher Michel
chemist
Frances Arnold
Nobel prize winning US scientist and engineer (born 1956)
77 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Christopher Michel
physicist
Donna Strickland
Canadian physicist, Nobel laurate
89 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 2.0 · Bengt Nyman from Vaxholm, Sweden
astronomer
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
British astrophysicist (born 1943)
64 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 3.0 · Launch_of_IYA_2009,_Paris_-_Grygar,_Bell_Burnell.jpg : Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic derivative work: Anrie ( talk )
mathematician
Terence Tao
Australian-American mathematician
54 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 4.0 · Institute for Pure & Applied Mathematics
CRISPR scientist
Emmanuelle Charpentier
French microbiologist and biochemist (born 1968)
80 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bianca Fioretti, Hallbauer & Fioretti
AI researcher
Geoffrey Hinton
British-Canadian computer scientist and psychologist
70 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cmichel67
AI researcher
Yoshua Bengio
Canadian computer scientist (born 1964)
35 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Xuthoria
software engineer
Linus Torvalds
Finnish software engineer (born 1969)
151 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Krd (photo) Von Sprat (crop/extraction)
software engineer
Guido van Rossum
Dutch programmer and creator of Python
55 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kushal Das
cryptography/blockchain
Vitalik Buterin
Russian-Canadian computer scientist
38 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 2.0 · John Phillips
AI researcher
Demis Hassabis
British artificial intelligence researcher (born 1976)
58 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · John Sears
chess player
Magnus Carlsen
Norwegian chess player (born 1990)
110 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 4.0 · Miroslav.vajdic
chess player
Judit Polgár
Hungarian chess player
71 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 3.0 · This photo was taken by Przemysław Jahr Autorem zdjęcia jest Przemysław Jahr Wykorzystując zdjęcie proszę podać jako autora: Przemysław Jahr / Wikimedia Commons
ballet dancer
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Latvian-American dancer, choreographer and actor
65 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 2.0 · Saeima
cyclist
Tadej Pogačar
Slovenian cyclist (born 1998)
52 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Petar Milošević
marathon runner
Eliud Kipchoge
Kenyan long-distance runner
56 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Denis Barthel
alpine skier
Mikaela Shiffrin
American alpine skier (born 1995)
49 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Manfred Werner (Tsui)
rugby player
Siya Kolisi
South African rugby union footballer
21 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 2.0 · Stefano Delfrate
baseball player
Shohei Ohtani
Japanese professional baseball player
37 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 2.0 · All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA
animation director
Hayao Miyazaki
Japanese animator, film director, and mangaka (born 1941)
110 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 2.0 · Natasha Baucas at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdnatasha/
novelist
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Nigerian writer (born 1977)
94 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 3.0 · librairie mollat
architect
Zaha Hadid
Iraqi British architect, designer and painter (1950–2016)
96 sitelinksWikipedia
FAL · Dmitry Ternovoy
game designer
Hideo Kojima
Japanese video game designer (born 1963)
50 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kolby Ari
theater composer
Lin-Manuel Miranda
American songwriter and composer (born 1980)
45 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 2.0 · Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America
Hard
C. Long-tail Wikipedia notables
30 images · median sitelinks 20
education researcher
Andreas Schleicher
German statistician
8 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 2.0 · re:publica from Germany
biomedical engineer
Monique Frize
Canadian academic and biomedical engineer
8 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mfrize
writer/translator
Janet Biehl
American author, philosopher, and artist (born 1953)
8 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Janetbiehl
astronomer
Sara Seager
Canadian astronomer and planetary scientist
30 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 3.0 · Conrad Erb
computational geneticist
Pardis Sabeti
Iranian-American biologist, Harvard University
18 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 2.0 · PopTech from Camden, Maine and Brooklyn, NY, USA
computer scientist
Rana el Kaliouby
Egyptian-American computer scientist and entrepreneur
18 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cairue
computer scientist
Dina Katabi
American computer scientist
14 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 3.0 · World Economic Forum
computer scientist
Barbara Liskov
American computer scientist
51 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kenneth C. Zirkel
computer scientist
Sophie Wilson
British computer scientist (born 1957)
22 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 2.0 · Chris Monk
computer scientist
Radia Perlman
American software designer and network engineer (born 1951)
32 sitelinksWikipedia
Public domain · Scientist-100 at English Wikipedia
computer scientist
Leslie Lamport
American computer scientist
43 sitelinksWikipedia
Copyrighted free use · Leslie Lamport
international lawyer
Fatou Bensouda
Gambian lawyer and judge, Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (2012–2021)
36 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 3.0 · Max Koot Studio
novelist
Jenny Erpenbeck
German opera director and writer (born 1967)
38 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Heike Huslage-Koch
science fiction writer
Nnedi Okorafor
Nigerian-American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and comics (born 1974)
29 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gage Skidmore
writer/photographer
Teju Cole
American writer
19 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 2.0 · U.S. Consulate General Munich from Germany
writer/filmmaker
Xiaolu Guo
Chinese-British novelist and film director
19 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 3.0 · Luigi Novi
triple jumper
Yulimar Rojas
Venezuelan athletics competitor
43 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY-SA 2.0 · Yann Caradec from Paris, France
judoka
Clarisse Agbegnenou
French and Togolese judoka
37 sitelinksWikipedia
CC BY 4.0 · Presidential Press and Information Office
