Google’s spelling editor will now begin to correct what users type to be more ‘inclusive’ with their wording.
QUICK FACTS:
- Google has launched an ‘inclusive language’ feature that will now help users utilize more politically correct words, according to a Telegraph report.
- Writers will be given the ability to choose an alternate word from a list of what Google calls more “appropriate” suggestions.
- Terms such as ‘humankind’ will now be suggested to take the place of words such as ‘mankind.’
- ‘Landlord’ will be given a warning that it may not be ‘inclusive to all readers’.
GOOGLE REPRESENTATIVE ON THE REASON BEHIND THE NEW FEATURE:
“Our technology is always improving, and we don’t yet (and may never) have a complete solution to identifying and mitigating all unwanted word associations and biases.”
BACKGROUND:
- Silkie Carlo, director of the campaign group Big Brother Watch, told The Telegraph “Google’s new word warnings aren’t assistive, they’re deeply intrusive.”
- “With Google’s new assistive writing tool, the company is not only reading every word you type but telling you what to type,” Carlo said. “This speech-policing is profoundly clumsy, creepy and wrong, often reinforcing bias. Invasive tech like this undermines privacy, freedom of expression and increasingly freedom of thought.”
- The new program is currently being rolled out to what Google refers to as enterprise-level users and is automatically turned on by default.
