Google Assistant failed at censoring itself from saying the N-word
It’s a fact that very little modeling for artificial intelligence-type technologies take BIPOC folk into consideration. Sure, there are even heavier conversations to be had about the white and select non-white populations that hold the majority of well-paying, powerful jobs across Silicon Valley. Simply put, we know there are problems that expose themselves whether it’s the product itself tothe staffwho stand behind it. Google tries here and there with efforts such asits Real Tone photo filters, but I don’t think we get to be surprised when mistakes like this happen and we end up having to ask “How did no one think of this?”
TikTok user @ohgustie posteda videowhich demonstrated Google Assistant reciting the name of songs that she requested be played on her Home/Nest Mini speaker.
When asked to play “Ain’t Shit” by Doja Cat, Assistant responded with “Okay, ‘Ain’t sh-bleep-t’ by Doja Cat.”
“Fuckin' Problems” by A$AP Rocky became “F-asterisk-k-in' Problems.
However, when presented with the N-word in songs such as Kanye and Jay-Z’s “Nias in Paris” or “Nia What, Ni**a Who,” also by Jay-Z, Assistant recited the N-word without censoring it.
@ohgustie, who also goes by Shay, noted in an interview withGizmodothat Assistant used to censor the N-word with asterisks much like as in “Fuckin' Problems.” But when she heard Assistant bleep a different expletive recently, she became curious and decided to see if it would bleep the N-word (it didn’t).
It seemed to Shay that Google didn’t bother to “look around and say, ‘Hey, maybe we should stop and discuss this.’ People who look like me just aren’t in those spaces, and that’s a problem.”
When asked about the matter, a Google spokesperson avoided detailing the company’s censorship criteria for Assistant, but did apologize and say that the problem has been fixed.
Indeed, Shay tested the Assistant while chatting with Gizmodo and the N-word in that instance was bleeped.
When this is the default experience, there aren’t any extra contextual quirks to consider in a narrow consumer-to-service interaction.
And this is why good corporate governance in tech needs to get diversity right. Like, all the way right.
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