8 ms·

Google AI will no longer use gender labels like 'woman' or 'man'

12 points by franczesko 7y ago

raxxorrax 7y ago
I will say it: Gender topics have reached a point of dogmatic idiocy that is only shadowed by the theories itself. Some think it to be the antithesis to religious dogmatic thought, and maybe it was at first, but it has long since looked into the abyss as it seems. Not a bad short term business decision but I doubt it will net Google many points in the long run. Although they certainly already had their missteps with race.
sgt 7y ago
Seems like politically correct bullshit to me. Sorry to be this blunt. Are there people on HN in agreement with me or has this world gone absolutely crazy?
- oldmonk1990 7y ago
  This is crazy. There are so many health related, genetics related, society related aspects of applications that need identification of gender in order for them to be effective. Just eliminating gender because it's not 100% accurate it's bs and no one asked for it.
gshdg 7y ago
“ Google said it had made the change because it was not possible to infer someone's gender solely from their appearance. It also cited its own ethical rules on AI, stating that gendering photos could exacerbate unfair bias.”
- franczesko 7y ago
  If people can't cope with the fact, that technology based on statistics correctly classifies males and females, maybe they should just stop using it (and/or create their own thing), rather changing the technology. AI is not biased, but clearly - people are.
  - m-p-3 7y ago
    I would say that anything has bias (even AI, they exists because of us and our initial preconceptions), but at some point you can't deny the fact that we are all biologically born either a man or woman even if you don't feel like one or feel trapped into the wrong gender. And even if you're a man or woman, we live in the present where some fashion items or appearances are commonly associated to a specific gender. Those change over time, but don't expect people to associate a style to another gender overnight and AI still have to make these common associations to be useful or relevant to the current time, and they'll evolve too.
  - gshdg 7y ago
    Actually, one problem is that it doesn’t consistently classify them correctly. For instance, often classifying men with long hair as women.
bertbert 7y ago
Another decision that erodes my trust in Google Cloud further.

12 points by franczesko 7y ago

I will say it: Gender topics have reached a point of dogmatic idiocy that is only shadowed by the theories itself. Some think it to be the antithesis to religious dogmatic thought, and maybe it was at first, but it has long since looked into the abyss as it seems. Not a bad short term business decision but I doubt it will net Google many points in the long run. Although they certainly already had their missteps with race.

sgt 7y ago

Seems like politically correct bullshit to me. Sorry to be this blunt. Are there people on HN in agreement with me or has this world gone absolutely crazy?

oldmonk1990 7y ago
This is crazy. There are so many health related, genetics related, society related aspects of applications that need identification of gender in order for them to be effective. Just eliminating gender because it's not 100% accurate it's bs and no one asked for it.

gshdg 7y ago

“ Google said it had made the change because it was not possible to infer someone's gender solely from their appearance. It also cited its own ethical rules on AI, stating that gendering photos could exacerbate unfair bias.”

franczesko 7y ago
If people can't cope with the fact, that technology based on statistics correctly classifies males and females, maybe they should just stop using it (and/or create their own thing), rather changing the technology. AI is not biased, but clearly - people are.
- m-p-3 7y ago
  I would say that anything has bias (even AI, they exists because of us and our initial preconceptions), but at some point you can't deny the fact that we are all biologically born either a man or woman even if you don't feel like one or feel trapped into the wrong gender. And even if you're a man or woman, we live in the present where some fashion items or appearances are commonly associated to a specific gender. Those change over time, but don't expect people to associate a style to another gender overnight and AI still have to make these common associations to be useful or relevant to the current time, and they'll evolve too.
- gshdg 7y ago
  Actually, one problem is that it doesn’t consistently classify them correctly. For instance, often classifying men with long hair as women.

bertbert 7y ago

Another decision that erodes my trust in Google Cloud further.