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Google accused of 'creepy' speech policing:
Google has been criticised for an "inclusive language" feature that will recommend word substitutions for people writing in Google Docs.
The tool will offer guidance to people writing in a way that "may not be inclusive to all readers" in a similar manner to spelling and grammar check systems.
Although the suggestions are just suggestions - they aren't forced on writers and the tool may be turned off - critics have described it as "speech-policing" and "profoundly clumsy, creepy and wrong".
The new feature is officially called assistive writing and will be on by default for enterprise users, business customers who might want to nudge particular writing styles among their staff.
The language the system favours reflects decades of campaigning for gender-neutral terms ("crewed" instead of "manned") and against phrases that reflect racial prejudice ("deny list" instead of "blacklist"), as well as more modern concerns about the impact of our vocabulary on how we identify people.
Also reported at:
- The Telegraph [May be paywalled in your locality]
- TechRadar
- Metro.co.uk
- WSJ
- Vice
- NY Post
- The Register
(Score: 2, Troll) by GlennC on Wednesday April 27 2022, @12:01PM (7 children)
<sarcasm> I can't wait to see the rest of the conversation! </sarcasm>
Sorry folks...the world is bigger and more varied than you want it to be. Deal with it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday April 27 2022, @02:03PM (6 children)
Tabloids like the NY Post do not follow proper journalistic practices and should not be used as a source.
I checked the TechRadar and The Register links and neither one mentions the term "blacklist" or anything like that, just the gender neutral terms that are actually proper English.
So if the only source for the "they're coming for our blacklists" is the NY Post I would take it's inclusions with a HUGE grain of salt.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2022, @03:43PM (5 children)
Would you prefer they be blacklisted?
(Score: 4, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday April 27 2022, @03:57PM (4 children)
Apparently the Google Speech Police were not able to prohibit you from typing the word "blacklist."
Boy, it almost seems like some folks might be exaggerating this situation!
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday April 27 2022, @05:55PM (3 children)
Oh noes those DEMOCRATS are comin' fer me!
Before y'all get so high and mighty could someone please verify that "blacklist" is actually autocorrected by this thing?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2022, @06:10PM (2 children)
Even if they "paused" it [dailywire.com] TFA has examples.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday April 27 2022, @06:19PM (1 child)
I clicked your link even though it is also a tabloid and it contains zero references to the term "blacklist."
I am not going to read your propaganda but I did make a good faith effort to verify it's contents and they do not support your claim.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2022, @07:30PM
What claim? The following is from the Sky News report.
The DW article contains examples, including a link to a Vice article which also makes the point about "blackboard/whiteboard" being typical examples of "inclusive language". None of these articles has claimed Google Docs was making substitutions for these words. The only claim Google were making suggestions for these words appears to be yours. You may wish to work on basic reading comprehension if the tabloids you deride are too advanced.