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…
That's part of Marxist long march through institutions. They achieve these goals through bullying and accusations. Nobody at work wants to be (unfoundedly) accused of racism so they silently accept these new rules. I mean it's a small inconvenience that is probably worth the salary they are getting. But the truth is people in these organisations are afraid of speaking their minds in case they say something that is de…
Google’s AI-powered ‘inclusive warnings’ feature is very broken
671–680 of 1001 posts
Re: Google’s AI-powered ‘inclusive warnings’ feature is very broken
#672Earlier quoted context omitted.
If we're going to play this game, I think dissuading people from using "mother" in the example of "motherboard" is offensive. Mothers are the source of human life on earth, and in that capacity are revered and honored. When we say motherboard, we're making an analogy that suggests the board's significance and universal connection to everything. To discourage the term as an analogy for things that are a universal sour…
I know we all see this as a slippery slope, but let's remember what's at the other end of the slope. Anyhow, you might find it awkward, but the general assumption that "parent" is synonymous with "mother" to the exclusion of all other kinds of parents does real damage to inclusiveness, and the term "motherboard" flows from that. I know your tongue is in cheek, but the mainboard may be considered a parent of the compo…
Re: Google’s AI-powered ‘inclusive warnings’ feature is very broken
#673Earlier quoted context omitted.
> As in she's the "lord of the land." But she wouldn't be; she'd be the "lady of the land".
Queen Elizabeth II is the current Lord of Mann. And Dame Fiona Woolf was the Lord Mayor of London as was Mary Donaldson before her.
Re: Google’s AI-powered ‘inclusive warnings’ feature is very broken
#674Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a little of both. There's enough woke influence over corporate communication to drive all employees to want to avoid non-inclusive words in docs. At that point, this becomes useful even for employees who don't agree with it—I'd rather just have the word flagged now and fix it instead of going back and forth later. However, the net result is that words are driven out of the language even if everyone involved in t…
>However, the net result is that words are driven out of the language even if everyone involved in the document wouldn't care. No one uses "fuck" in corporate communication either. Is anyone worried about that word being "driven out of the language"? I don't think corporate speech is as influential in overall language use as you are implying.
Swear words are specifically used to be provocative, so naturally they're not going to disappear. Words like "motherboard" or "whitelist" were historically neutral and primarily used in professional settings, so removal from corporate speech is correspondingly a much bigger factor.
To be clear, I'm not particularly worried or concerned about this. I don't consider it any great loss if we start saying "allowlist" and have happily changed my projects to match. It's not a big deal, and the kind thing to do is to go along with those who do care a lot.
Re: Google’s AI-powered ‘inclusive warnings’ feature is very broken
#675I spent many years in the bluest corner of a very blue state. But still I can't imagine any objection to the word "landlord" outside of (1) a right wing attempt to satirize the left, (2) a Google product brainstorming meeting, or (3) a rare sincere outlier or concern troll. In any of those cases I don't think this is necessary. That said, if the word "landlord" organically fell out of favor and out of usage to be rep…
It’s not “landlord”. It’s “person who lords land”.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=People%20of%...
Re: Google’s AI-powered ‘inclusive warnings’ feature is very broken
#676On that note - HN hive mind: Can the current Grammar/Spell checking be turned off?
I am a victim of Google Docs. Must be used at work. I hate the slow opinionated clunky thing, but turning off the "features" would be helpful.
Re: Google’s AI-powered ‘inclusive warnings’ feature is very broken
#677Earlier quoted context omitted.
If we're going to play this game, I think dissuading people from using "mother" in the example of "motherboard" is offensive. Mothers are the source of human life on earth, and in that capacity are revered and honored. When we say motherboard, we're making an analogy that suggests the board's significance and universal connection to everything. To discourage the term as an analogy for things that are a universal sour…
What about a motherboard is specifically maternal?
Re: Google’s AI-powered ‘inclusive warnings’ feature is very broken
#678> Emily Lipstein typed “Motherboard” (as in, the name of this website) into a document and Google popped up to tell her she was being insensitive: “Inclusive warning. Some of these words may not be inclusive to all readers. Consider using different words.” It’s amazing how a Fortune 500 company can release a product that chastises you for using the word “motherboard” because it has “mother” in it, while other people…
Re: Google’s AI-powered ‘inclusive warnings’ feature is very broken
#679Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Even if we think that we should describe mothers as birthing persons Mother definitely does not mean birthing person. The easiest example is adoption. Would would you call the mother in that case? Adoptive Female Parent goes again against the 'rule' because it has female in there. Parent 1/Parent 2? no it has Hierarchy.
I think you're looking for the word parent?
Re: Google’s AI-powered ‘inclusive warnings’ feature is very broken
#680In 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…
No more "motherboard" and "daughterboard?" Sounds like Google has found yet another way to marginalize women.
Pay 'em less. Then pretend they don't exist.
Way to go, Diversity Champions!