Alphabet — the parent company for Google — announced this week it is updating its auto-correct algorithm to be more “inclusive.”
The app will now correct sex-based language. For example, rather than using words like “mailman” or “chairman,” Google Docs will auto-correct to phrases like “mail carrier” and “chair” or “chairperson,” according to the Daily Mail.
The company announced Tuesday, during its I/O Developers Conference, that it will give users suggestions on ways to avoid “offensive” and gendered language.
***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***
Google CEO Sundar Pichai also said he wants to make social justice a priority for the technology company.
This shift comes a few years after Google stopped suggesting sex-based pronouns as part of the predictive text function for its Gmail platform. At the time, the feature stopped suggesting words like “he,” “her,” “or “she.”
“Google’s technology will not suggest gender-based pronouns because the risk is too high that its ‘Smart Compose’ technology might predict someone’s sex or gender identity incorrectly and offend users,” product leaders told Reuters in 2018.
***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***
Pichai explained in an email to employees in June of last year that the company was “strengthening [its] commitment to racial equity and inclusion” in an effort to “build sustainable equity for [its] black+ community.”
The company has also set up “anti-racism” educational programs to focus on “better supporting the mental and physical health and wellbeing of our black+ community.”