4 ms·

Elon just showed a post on Microsoft Word flagging the word "insane" as not being inclusive enough. These methods of "propaganda" are something the Chinese Gove

• Peanuts99 3y ago
  You should probably look at some of the things they Chinese government are actually doing. Influencing spell check systems is on the tame end of these activities.
• emodendroket 3y ago
  sorry, how is this related to Copilot?
• 93po 3y ago
  Maybe I'm a woke snowflake but I am entirely fine with this sort of suggestion, and is exactly the sort of feedback I'd want my for own writing. I'd also want it to suggest alternatives to someone calling something "retarded" outside the literal definition of something slowing. To me it's effectively the same thing, though "insane" is less controversial and less well known.
  • ifyoubuildit 3y ago
    Has someone published somewhere the complete official acceptable language list? How many other less controversial and less well known words are there that we are carelessly using today? In some sense, these companies are ultimately going to be the ones to make that decision just by providing these little helpful suggestions to billions of people.
    • lern_too_spel 3y ago
      Have you ever inadvertently offended somebody and then wondered why they disliked you? This is just a way to avoid that. Businesses want more features like this. If one employee writes something that hints that the employee reading it should do something, that might work in Japan, but in many other countries, a feature that suggests ways to make the action item clearer to the recipient would be well-received.
      • ifyoubuildit 3y ago
        > This is just a way to avoid that. (Emphasis mine) Yeah, its pretty easy to see why this would be desirable for some parties. But multiple things can be true at once. It is a way to help out businesses, but its not just that. Its also a thing that is going to shape our language, which will in turn shape our thought and discussions. I just think we should be cognizant of who has their hands on those levers.
        • lern_too_spel 3y ago
          Our language is already shaped by how others perceive you when you speak. This just makes it clearer to the speaker. It doesn't change what you say without your consent.
          • ifyoubuildit 3y ago
            > This just makes it clearer to the speaker When you say 'just', do you mean you think this is the only effect? As in the one and only effect of one of the most used text editors suggesting changes to its users writing will be to make their writing more clear? Thats quite optimistic. If anything, it will make their writing more anodyne, which may be great from a business perspective. But it will probably have all sorts of effects that we won't be able to measure until years after the fact, if ever. This is like Facebook making little tweaks to their timeline. Just by virtue of the fact that billions of people are exposed to it, you are actually shaping thought around the world, intentionally or not, knowingly or not.
    • 93po 3y ago
      There are writing/style guides out there and I’m sure some of them have relatively comprehensive lists of this
  • dr_kiszonka 3y ago
    Same here. I wouldn't want to get in trouble for inadvertently using a word that people consider offensive. I would appreciate software warning me about it.
• namlem 3y ago
  Did you see the community note? It's an oldish feature that has to be manually enabled.
• block_dagger 3y ago
  Elon often misuses the term "insane" to mean "very good." It's a colloquialism that not everyone embraces. I'm not surprised this got flagged by an AI although the reason in the context is indeed silly.
  • aksss 3y ago
    I don’t think the inclusivity check in Word is using AI, is it? I think it’s more akin to a key word search and maybe grammar check.