Google in May introduced a feature for Gmail that automatically completes sentences for users as they type.
Tap out “I love” and Gmail might propose “you” or “it.”
But users are out of luck if the object of their affection is “him” or “her.”
Google’s “Smart Compose” technology will not suggest gender-based pronouns because the risk is too high that it might predict someone’s sex or gender identity incorrectly and offend users. Google's team discovered this problem in Jan when a person typed “I am meeting an investor next week,” and Google suggested a possible follow-up question: “Do you want to meet him?” instead of “her.” Consumers have become accustomed to embarrassing gaffes from autocorrect on smartphones but Google's team refuses to take chances at a time when gender issues are reshaping politics and society, and critics are scrutinizing potential biases in artificial intelligence like never before. “Not all ‘screw ups’ are equal,” Google's team said. Gender is a “a big, big thing” to get wrong.
What is Smart Compose?
Smart Compose is an example of what AI developers call natural language generation (NLG), in which computers learn to write sentences by studying patterns and relationships between words in literature, emails and web pages. A system shown billions of human sentences becomes adept at completing common phrases.
Numbers?
Gmail has 1.5 billion users, and Smart Compose assists on 11% of messages worldwide sent from Gmail.
Why did the gender bias in Smart Compose even occur?
Men have long dominated fields such as finance and science, for example, so the technology would conclude from the data that an investor or engineer is “he” or “him.” The issue trips up nearly every major tech company.
Tap out “I love” and Gmail might propose “you” or “it.”
But users are out of luck if the object of their affection is “him” or “her.”
Google’s “Smart Compose” technology will not suggest gender-based pronouns because the risk is too high that it might predict someone’s sex or gender identity incorrectly and offend users. Google's team discovered this problem in Jan when a person typed “I am meeting an investor next week,” and Google suggested a possible follow-up question: “Do you want to meet him?” instead of “her.” Consumers have become accustomed to embarrassing gaffes from autocorrect on smartphones but Google's team refuses to take chances at a time when gender issues are reshaping politics and society, and critics are scrutinizing potential biases in artificial intelligence like never before. “Not all ‘screw ups’ are equal,” Google's team said. Gender is a “a big, big thing” to get wrong.
What is Smart Compose?
Smart Compose is an example of what AI developers call natural language generation (NLG), in which computers learn to write sentences by studying patterns and relationships between words in literature, emails and web pages. A system shown billions of human sentences becomes adept at completing common phrases.
Numbers?
Gmail has 1.5 billion users, and Smart Compose assists on 11% of messages worldwide sent from Gmail.
Why did the gender bias in Smart Compose even occur?
Men have long dominated fields such as finance and science, for example, so the technology would conclude from the data that an investor or engineer is “he” or “him.” The issue trips up nearly every major tech company.
Credit:
Reuters.com/article/us-alphabet-google-ai-gender/fearful-of-bias-google-blocks-gender-based-pronouns-from-new-ai-tool-idUSKCN1NW0EF
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