Google app mislabels black people as gorillas

mrk · 1 Jul 2015 at 22:16

Toto is not amused!

estebanrey · 1 Jul 2015 at 22:19

robfosters said:
I can't see any airplanes either.

Nor do I, I do see the wing of an AEROPLANE though.

Damn Google and their American Barstewardisation of the English language

SonniLombardi · 1 Jul 2015 at 22:33

Speaking of Gorillas, this is Koko, she has been raised and taught sign language since she was a baby and can communicate, absolutely amazing...

Mr Jack · 1 Jul 2015 at 22:45

This is the risk of using machine learning in the wild; sometimes it hasn't learnt what you wanted it to learn!

asim18 · 1 Jul 2015 at 22:51

Bad times ahead...

These are the same computers which are analysing everything about you and label people as potential terrorists, peadophiles and other bad stuff.

Hairybudda · 2 Jul 2015 at 00:14

asim18 said:
Bad times ahead...

These are the same computers which are analysing everything about you and label people as potential terrorists, peadophiles and other bad stuff.

It's googles machine learning network lol, it has nothing to do with classifying terrorists, pedos or any other stuff like that

estebanrey · 2 Jul 2015 at 00:41

asim18 said:
Bad times ahead...

These are the same computers which are analysing everything about you and label people as potential terrorists, peadophiles and other bad stuff.

I dunno, I found it pretty accurate....

413x · 2 Jul 2015 at 00:44

estebanrey said:
I dunno, I found it pretty accurate....

Biggest lol I've had all day!

StriderX · 2 Jul 2015 at 00:44

Google's algorithm learnt enough from "people" to "identify" things.

It's the products fault...the product being y'all.

Judgeneo · 2 Jul 2015 at 00:44

Hairybudda said:
It's googles machine learning network lol, it has nothing to do with classifying terrorists, pedos or any other stuff like that

The algorithms are surprisingly similar.

Cosimo · 2 Jul 2015 at 07:57

Dis86 said:
A friend of mine frequently points out his mum looks like a chimp in a wig! Bit rich cos he isn't the most handsome of individuals...

Have you not met his mum..

Dis86 · 2 Jul 2015 at 09:14

Nah that can't be her. She doesn't drink tea. Just coffee.

sansnom · 2 Jul 2015 at 09:36

nevermind , found it again!

truly amazing video

A Conversation With Koko

Stretch · 2 Jul 2015 at 09:58

Participant said:
"We're appalled and genuinely sorry that this happened"

...but it was a coding fault, not a racist slur! Still, polite to apologise I guess.

It being a coding fault is even worse IMO.

If it had been a "racist slur", you could have written it off as mindless racism.

But the fact someone has written a completely objective algorithm, which identifies you as a gorilla is unfortunate to say the least.

russell664 · 2 Jul 2015 at 10:54

I don't know why, but it made me chuckle.
At least they said sorry!

Remember that Kinect thing with Microsoft?

Lightnix · 2 Jul 2015 at 10:59

Damn BNP neural networks.

Dis86 · 2 Jul 2015 at 11:38

Stretch said:
It being a coding fault is even worse IMO.

If it had been a "racist slur", you could have written it off as mindless racism.

But the fact someone has written a completely objective algorithm, which identifies you as a gorilla is unfortunate to say the least.

It is unfortunate...but offensive I dunno. Obviously being white I haven't had years of racial abuse being called a monkey or having bananas thrown at me etc. However knowing there's no malice behind it should hopefully stop it causing offense, if not upset.

Orionaut · 2 Jul 2015 at 12:45

Stretch said:
It being a coding fault is even worse IMO.

If it had been a "racist slur", you could have written it off as mindless racism.

But the fact someone has written a completely objective algorithm, which identifies you as a gorilla is unfortunate to say the least.

To be fair to Google I can see exactly why the algorithm called "Gorilla".

It would be very difficult to write an objective "Gorilla" algorithm that wouldn't make this sort of misidentification from time to time.

The fact of the matter is that some people look like Gorillas (Especially if their features are distorted by an unflattering camera angle) The Computer is just pointing out what we all already know but don't generally mention in public these days!

(Some people look like Weasels, Some look like Squirrels and some look like Elephant Seals. I wonder who many mugshots for these other animal lookalikes have been mistakenly picked out by Googles computer algorithm)

dowie · 2 Jul 2015 at 13:29

Orionaut said:
(Some people look like Weasels, Some look like Squirrels and some look like Elephant Seals. I wonder who many mugshots for these other animal lookalikes have been mistakenly picked out by Googles computer algorithm)

probably not many, it is the dark skin tone that has also added to the confusion

not many people share a similar colouring to seals or squirrels

robgmun · 2 Jul 2015 at 13:57

malachi said:
Im black.....i dont see what the problem is. Just shows how poor the tagging system is coded.

When AI takes over the world it's going to be racist!