Google’s AI-powered ‘inclusive warnings’ feature is very broken

Post by dhzhzjsbevs » Fri, Apr 22, 2022, 9:01 PM UTC

mgraczyk wrote: post #9

In the article they use the example of "Motherboard" and "Landlord" and seem to suggest that these are areas where the Google AI is making mistakes or being overly strict. As a Google employee expressing my own opinion and observations of company culture, I can say that these are 100% not mistakes. Many Google employees are just so out of touch with the real world that they believe it is the duty of Google Docs to ch…

Post by Tao331 » Fri, Apr 22, 2022, 9:02 PM UTC

dekhn wrote: post #319

olalonde wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of when GitHub stopped using "master" for the default branch because it was somehow offensive.

When I built a distributed system, I wanted to avoid the terms "master and slave" for the "coordinator and worker", so instead I chose something I thought was relatively less controversial- daimyo, honcho, and peasant. Only later did I realize I had merely recapitulated the power structure of feudal japan.

Post by nullc » Fri, Apr 22, 2022, 9:04 PM UTC

subjectsigma wrote: post #8

I can't even properly describe how angry this makes me.

Post by nullc » Fri, Apr 22, 2022, 9:07 PM UTC

filoleg wrote: post #114

jedimastert wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Silly question: ignoring any kind of history, why fight for terms like "whitelist" and "blacklist" when terms like "allowlist" and "blocklist" are objectively clearer, especially for folks who's first language is not English?

I am fine with "blocklist" instead of "blacklist", because it sounds similar. But "allowlist" is just more difficult to pronounce. Regarding your concern about people for whom English isn't the first language, I dont know how valid it is. Because those terms exist under the same names and fall under the same usage in many other languages. I can confirm that it is the case with Russian, as "черный список" is a commonl…

Post by babypuncher » Fri, Apr 22, 2022, 9:11 PM UTC

vorpalhex wrote: post #372

cj wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could look at Grammarly ($10+ billion dollar valuation) as evidence that there is a market for a tool/plugin that improves a user’s prose.

Being told I use too many adjectives, my word choice is too heavy for my audience or that I used too many clauses is useful. Being passive-aggressively told "blacklist" is a no-no word is not. If you were really clever, you'd let the user set a "sensitivity" level for the writing from "normal human speak" to "corporate PR approved".