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

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

#811

Post by seanmcdirmid »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #612
bombcar wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Landlord gets hit from multiple sides; those who don't like that it contains "lord" which is a male term, those who don't like that landlords exist, and those who don't like that the concept of owning land exists.

Sure the origin is to do with Lords but landlord isn't male, anyone can be a landlord, pretending it's gendered is just lying to try and be offended. Presumably, such people think the word coward references bovines as it includes the word cow. I don't like that landlords exist, but that's an inordinately stupid reason to try and get rid of a word. Surely noone believes that by sensoring a word you get rid of that whi…

I’ve heard the term “landlady” used before (east coast or Deep South?), so it’s gendered language to someone.

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

#812

Post by epivosism »

epivosism wrote: post #809
noduerme wrote: post #803

This link in the article is insanely, crazily, madly, insultingly sickening to anyone who's not a slave. As I read it I felt like it was some kind of parody of Orwell. Disgusting to tell someone what verbiage they use sincerely and in technical terms is now verboten because it's harmful. To whom? Crazy people? https://developers.google.com/style/inclusive-documentation

This guide is interesting in how it lists allegedly immoral language use, alongside with clear PR/legal/trademark directives which I don't give a fuck about, such as "don't use google as a verb". I'll google whatever I want, google PR, go suck an egg. Also quite annoying how they simply tell us what to do, without justifying things. A lot of these would be quite hard to truly argue - i.e. "blind people... can't see t…

"Avoid using gray-box, graybox, or gray box to describe testing."

"grayed-out, greyed-out, gray out, grey out Don't use. Instead, use unavailable."

WTF are these people on about.

Oh it's because they hate certain color words such as "black" and "white", words used by humans to indicate certain reflectivity properties of light; since it would be weird to only prohibit words which contain white or black, they just extend the prohibition to nearby related words.

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

#813

Post by escapedmoose »

gdulli wrote: post #29

I 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…

Right. Arguments against “landlord,” “mother/father,” etc simply reek of concern trolling.

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

#814

Post by vimy »

shp0ngle wrote: post #806
vimy wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s about a lot more than just forbidden words. The ‘social justice’ fanatics are a black hole for productivity.

maybe but the argument “I wish I was in China and I didn’t have to be careful what I say in public!” is so laughable if you have actually been in China or interacted with mainland Chinese

That wasn’t my argument at all. They just aren’t distracted like the West is. They are laser focused on becoming the best in everything.

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

#815

Post by cornel_io »

slg wrote: post #648
morgante wrote: post #584

Earlier 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.

If you don't use "fuck" in corporate communication, you're not doing it right. Use swears very sparingly (not in every email or presentation, for sure) and only deliberately for emphasis when you need a little shock. Especially effective when the leadup is really dry.

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

#816

Post by [deleted] »

Pxtl wrote: post #505
user3939382 wrote: post #108

Earlier 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…

[deleted]

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

#817

Post by [deleted] »

madamelic wrote: post #166
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.

My opinion: `main` is better. It's shorter, it's more descriptive, and costs nothing to remove something someone might find offensive. It's pretty much an all around win.

[deleted]

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

#818

Post by Auracle »

humanistbot wrote: post #310
Auracle wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anyone reading this, I volunteer. My moderation level would be based on words that were considered bad in the year 2005. I won’t have to do much work and you still get to say that you have someone that’s doing the job. Win-win.

Ah, the culture war version of the famous Douglas Adams quote about technology: "1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the…

The difference is that I live in the middle of the country, so I'm basically living in the past but can see the future screaming my way via the internet.

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

#819

Post by Auracle »

slg wrote: post #352
Auracle wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anyone reading this, I volunteer. My moderation level would be based on words that were considered bad in the year 2005. I won’t have to do much work and you still get to say that you have someone that’s doing the job. Win-win.

I wonder what your age is in comparison to your chosen ideal of 2005. As I am getting older it is easier to see the patterns in all this. Most people just want the entire world frozen from the time they were young. That includes everything from the cast of SNL to acceptable language. I have seen enough decades of people complaining about policing language to know that we survived multiple waves of this before 2005 an…

I'm 33, but the reason I chose 2005 was because it was the latest year that I was sure was before "wokeness" was a thing.

I also live in the rural Midwest, so I figured that was about how far in the past you on the coast think we are with this sort of thing - and you'd be right, to an extent.

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

#820

Post by Underphil »

nullc wrote: post #575
subjectsigma wrote: post #8

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

Imagine the life of someone who thinks that this is a good and important change. It's probably miserable-- a slight around every corner and no higher purpose than bulling people over terminology. Instead of anger, try gratitude that you're not in their shoes.

The comments on this thread have given me hope for humanity and freedom of expression. Depending on where you read this news you could be forgiven for thinking that you're in the wrong for disagreeing.
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