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#i would apologize for all the spam about net neutrality
briwhosaysni · 6 years
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The Fight For Net Neutrality Isn't Over
Does the FCC'S vote suck? Yes. Yes it does. But!
1. No changes will go into effect immediately. These things take time to implement. You're not going to start losing access to websites today, or tomorrow, or even in the next couple weeks. Take a deep breath. It's gonna be ok.
2. There's still a good chance of the vote being overturned in court. The FCC chairman pulled a lot of shady shit to get this vote through the way it happened, and there's a good chance it won't hold up. Here is a link to an article about this.
Support the people fighting to save net neutrality. Contact your representatives and let them know where you stand. Let the people in charge know that we will not sit by and let this happen.
Don't lose hope. Keep fighting.
This. Isn't. Over.
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mizunetzu · 4 years
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PART 3 OF ITS YOUR FAULT PLS !!!! I LOVE IT EKDBJSHD
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Well since y’all asked so nicely-
——————
Kuroo x reader - it’s your fault (pt. 3) (final)
⚠️warnings - angst
Pronouns - male, he/him
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part 1 can be found here!
part 2 can be found here!
——————
Sports sucks. That’s what Kuroo knew about (y/n), yet he still egged him on to play volleyball with him. He had a choice to say no, which was what younger him was hoping for, yet he still did it in hope of gaining his affection.
All his life he thought he was annoying. All his life he’d been in the mindset of how annoying he was, and how blissful it would’ve been for him to just disappear off the face of the earth.
So when (y/n) suddenly stopped showing up to practice, Kuroo didn’t expect himself to get worried.
He was starting to miss all the clingy touches, or the ‘good morning, Kuroo-kun!’ every single morning practice. He didn’t realize how quiet the walk was to his classes, or to and from home, when (y/n) wasn’t there to fill the noise on random things he found cool or how his day was. He didn’t know how expensive the drink (y/n) religiously bought him from the vending machine was, even though he bought him the drink with a smile plastered on his face like it was nothing.
“Oh, (y/n)? He quit the team.”
Kuroo dropped the volleyball he was holding. He’d gone up to coach nekomata to ask where (y/n) was, and why he wasn’t showing up to practice. But he was regretting asking in the first place. Nekomata gave him a sympathetic look.
Kuroo picked up his volleyball, gave him the best smile he could afford, and walked away. Why was he so devastated? Why did his heart feel like it sunk into his stomach? Why was his chest hurting like that? He should’ve been glad that (y/n) was finally gone.
So why does his heart hurt so much?
————
Kuroo figured he’d stop by his apartment to see what was going on. It’s been weeks, yet he couldn’t find him anywhere in his classrooms, and he nor Kenma could reach him on his phone.
When he walked up the stairs, looking for the ever familiar door to his apartment, he was nervous. For once in his life when going to talk to the boy, he was nervous. It wasn’t a good feeling, he never felt nervous to talk to him before.
When he noticed the door slightly ajar, he clutched the apology basket of sweets in his hand tighter. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to apologize for, though. Maybe for yelling at him, or maybe for something else.
“...hello? (Y-y/n)?” When he opened the door, he was met face to face with construction workers, and a blank apartment. Kuroos heart stopped beating. A man, who Kuroo believes was the apartment owner, looked at Kuroo, to his schools jacket, and down to his basket saying “I’m sorry (y/n) :(“
“Oh? Are you here for that (h/c)-haired kid?” Kuroo nodded vigorously.
“Sorry bud. He moved out a few days ago.” Kuroo couldn’t hide the devastated frown from tugging at his lips. He mumbled a small “sorry” and spedwalked out of the building.
He spammed (y/n’s) phone, probably texting more than he ever did his whole life combined, with “where are you’s” and “hey look I’m sorry, okay? Please answer me’s”
None of them were even read.
Kenma didn’t react well to knowing one of his best friends moved away so suddenly. Unlike Kuroo, (y/n) was good friends with him, practically attached to the hip. When Kuroo told him he couldn’t find (y/n) at his apartment, Kenma clutched his ds harder and glared at the screen like it was it’s fault for making him disappear.
But as much as Kenma blamed the ds, they both knew it was Kuroos fault.
———
Kuroo strived to be a better person. He came to terms with his feelings for (y/n), and how he could never repeat his mistake again.
He grew to love (y/n), and he messed it up so bad.
He’d be sure to never lead anyone on again, minus when he’d lead his team to victory as their new captain. He’d try and hold less grudges, tell someone when he doesn’t like them, as to let them down easy instead of blowing up in their face, and even bought his team snacks and filled up their water bottles during practice.
Kuroo walked around the unknown streets of miyagi, scanning his eyes for a mop of bleached hair. He knew Kenma got distracted on his phone, but this was excessive, even for him.
Eventually, his eyes landed on two bright figures. Kenmas usual bright blond hair, and a tuft of orange next to him.
“Kenma!”
Kenmas head whipped up, and he shut off his phone, but then a flash of (h/c) came into his peripherals. He looked a little further down and locked eyes with someone who made his throat close up.
(Y/n).
He looked older. Not in the way that he looks physically older, but he carried himself with a somewhat mature, grown stance that made Kuroo so a double take. His hair was slightly longer and he was wearing a black team jacket instead of the red Nekoma jacket he used to wear. Shocked (e/c) colored eyes morphed into an expression of pure resentment, making Kuroos shocked happiness short lived. Kenma walked up next to him, about to ask what happened when Kuroo turned his head away, walking with his head down.
Kenma waved bye to Hinata, when his eyes landed on (y/n). He was talking to a silver headed guy, with a distasteful frown directed at Kuroo. He didn’t say anything though, just ducked his head and walked beside his captain.
———
(Y/n) kept his eyes fixed on the ground, as Nekoma and Karasuno stood in a line, facing eachother. Kenma was practically standing in front of him, shocked to the core, but also averting his gaze. Not just because (y/n), but Hinata next to the boy was staring at him with his mouth agape.
Eventually everyone filed into the gym, Hinata stopping Kenma to talk, while taketora eyed him menacingly. (Y/n) side-eyed the little interaction with an unwanted jealousy. He wanted to talk to Kenma, he WAS his childhood and best friend. But it soon dissipated when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
That jealousy turned into hatred.
“Can we talk, (y/n)?”
(Y/n) slapped Kuroos hand away and stepped past him, pushing him back slightly with his shoulder.
“Don’t call me that. You have no right. It’s
(L/n).”
Kuroo watched as (y/n) stepped into the gym, his lips pressed into a fine line.
—————
(Y/n) sat on a bench in the corner with an obviously closed off aura, watching as people set up the net or the players from both schools talked to eachother. He walked as Kuroo shook hands with Daichi, not noticing the mop of bleached hair sit himself next to him. (Y/n) flinched when he felt something brush his shoulder.
He whipped his head around to find Kenma, sitting right next to him, but looking straight in front of him. He said nothing, and fiddled with his fingers. Guess he didn’t change, even after a new school year.
(Y/n) relaxed a bit and went back to stalking his team and old teammates with a somewhat less intimidating aura. They sat in heavy silence for what seemed like forever, until (y/n) coughed into his Karasuno jacket.
“S-so how you been Ke-“
“So you’re just not gonna tell me why you left?”
Kenma was looking straight at (y/n), with his normal, neutral gaze. It looked like his normal face, but (y/n) knew how hurt he was. He understood, though. He would be hurt too if his best friend moved without saying goodbye.
“I’m...I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
More silence consumed them. Sounds of sneakers squeaking and the rustle of the net being hung up seemed to vanish under the cloud of quiet sheltering them. Kenma stood up.
“I’m not mad. But I know why you left. And I’m not saying it’s a stupid reason, but you should talk to him.”
Kenma walked away without another word, leaving (y/n) to trail his eyes over to his old teammate, now captain. The frown that summoned up on his face came naturally, despite taking Kenmas words to heart.
He also stood up, brushing himself off and turning his cheery attitude back on. Why play a game with a frown when you’re about to destroy your old team?
—————
(Y/n) wasn’t mad he lost. He was actually quite satisfied with ticking off some of his old teammates by receiving spikes or feints no one saw coming. He sort of felt like an inside man. A spy even. It wasn’t enough to secure a win, but (y/n) never really cared for that.
Everyone was bidding their new friends goodbye, or just idly standing by. He promised Kenma to unblock his number, but only if they never talked about Kuroo again. (Y/n) knew he was being petty, but if it meant never talking to that piece of shit again, so be it-
“Stop ignoring me.”
Speak of the fucking devil. (Y/n) didn’t turn around, choosing to clutch the edge of his black jacket instead.
“Then stop trying to fix a friendship that never existed, Kuroo.”
“Oi!” Kuroo grabbed onto (y/n’s) shoulder harshly, pulling him back and making him stumble a little. (Y/n) pried and clawed at Kuroos iron hard grip. As much as he hated to admit it, he missed Kuroos touch, a lot.
“Can we please have a civilized fucking conversation? I’m fuckin begging you here!”
“Stop fucking cursing and let go of me you fuckass scheming bitch!”
(Y/n) swung at Kuroos head, but avertedly missed. He wasn’t sure if he missed on purpose, or if Kuroo ducked. Kuroo grabbed onto (y/n’s) waist, earning a choked squeak, and hauled him over his shoulder. Kuroo looked for a secluded area, ignoring the fists digging repeatedly into his back and the confused stares he got passing by his team and (y/n’s) teammates.
Kuroo practically threw (y/n) off his back, him stumbling down and hitting the back of a wall a bit harshly, and trapped him between his body and the wall. Both of his hands were on either side of (y/n’s) head, and his legs were long enough to trap him in if he tried to escape.
(Y/n) shrunk back into the wall ever so slightly, but kept the scowl present on his face. Kuroo pursed his lips and sighed.
“(Y/n)-“
“Let me go. I don’t wanna tal-“
“GODDAMNIT (Y/N) IM BUSTING MY BALLS HERE TO TELL YOU THAT IM SORRY!” Kuroo slammed his hands against the wall again, earning a surprised flinch from the smaller boy. “FUCKING LISTEN TO ME! PLEASE!”
Kuroos eyes softened a bit when he finally met eyes with (y/n’s) petrified form, cowering against the wall with his arms tucked in shakily. (Y/n) was quick to push past Kuroo though, diving past him and turning around, free from the wall.
“You see-this is what I fucking hate about you! You act so slick and perfect to the point where you lead people on to think they mean something important to you! I wanted to be a writer, Kuroo! I gave that up to spend my time bouncing a fucking volleyball around with you, and what did I get?! Nothing! I only did it for your stupid friendship, yet I didn’t even get that!”
(Y/n) practically had steam rolling out up his ears, and his words dripped with pure hatred with each retort. Kuroo opened his mouth to speak, but (y/n) beat him to it.
“So if you really want to apologize, give me back the blood sweat and tears I wasted on this stupid volleyball shit!”
(Y/n) punched at Kuroos chest with trembling hands. He kept punching and hitting Kuroo until Kuroo gently grabbed his wrists and pulled him into a hug. Kuroo felt him balling his fists into his back, trying to push him away, but he knew he was stronger. (Y/n’s) mouth was muffled by the cloth of Kuroos shirt, yet he still kicked and screamed at the top of his lungs.
“LET ME GO! I WANT MY CHILDHOOD BACK! I WANT ALL THE YEARS I COULD’VE BEEN WRITING OR LITERALLY BE DOING SOMETHING I ACTUALLY FUCKING LIKE BACK! ITS YOUR FAULT! ITS YOUR FAULT THAT MY ARMS HURT EVERYDAY! ITS YOUR FAULT I GAVE UP ON WRITING! ITS YOUR FAULT! I HATE YOU! I HATE VOLLEYBALL! I FUCKING HATE YOU! I hate you! I-I hate...I....”
Yelling turned into incoherent sobs as (y/n’s) punches died out into love taps. Kuroo said nothing, rubbing circles onto (y/n’s) back, who finally gave up and weakly wrapped his arms around Kuroos waist. He stained Kuroo with his salty tears, choking out half assed “let me go”s in between hics and sobs like a broken record.
They stood like that in comfortable silence, Kuroo combing fingers through (y/n’s) hair while the smaller boys sobs turned into occasional sniffles. Kuroo rocked gently from side to side, attempting to calm him down until he was ready to talk.
“I just wanted to be your friend, stupid Kuroo...” his words were barely understandable through the cracks and sniffles of his voice-also being muffled by Kuroos chest-but the taller boy heard every word as clear as day. He rested his chin on top of (y/n’s) head, looking off to the side.
“Sorry. If it means anything, I was stupid enough to hold a childhood grudge against you. You did nothing wrong. I just...i was dumb and disliked you because I thought you were lazy and annoying even though you were anything but that and...yeah. Sorry.”
Kuroo pulled away from the hug, the cold air hitting (y/n) like a truck. He silently whined at the loss of contact, wiping away stray tears with his team jacket. Kuroo awkwardly held his hands behind his back, his tongue suddenly feeling too big to fit comfortably in his mouth.
“...I’m sorry too.”
(Y/n) averted his gaze, his eyes half lidded and puffy from crying. Kuroo looked at (y/n) with a blank expression.
“Why?”
“For um...being annoying or something. And like...bitching a lot. I’m sorr-.”
Kuroo grabbed hold of (y/n’s) shoulders and shook him violently. “Don’t apologize! You don’t have anything to be sorry for! It’s my fault! Let me take the blame!”
“God shut up you’re gonna make me cry again.”
“...sorry.”
Kuroo looked like a kicked puppy, which made (y/n) burst into a fit of laughter. Kuroos ears perked up as he was graced with the sight of (y/n) wiping happy tears off his face and clutching his stomach. It was a beautiful sight, so beautiful that it made Kuroos chest tighten.
Chuckles died out into snickers as (y/n) huffed and leaned against the wall.
“So-what are we? Friends?”
Kuroo hesitantly nodded, watching (y/n’s) face intently for any sign of protest. When (y/n) broke out into a smile, Kuroo felt like he was on cloud nine. Like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders after so long. He felt like he was flying.
“We should probably head back. I gotta go back to my schoo-“
“Yeah. Yeah that’s probably..smart...”
It was kind of bittersweet knowing you had to say goodbye to someone you just got your hands back on, but after (y/n) unblocked his number right infront of him before enveloping him in a hug, he supposed it was alright.
“Bye~! call me~” (y/n) mouthed out, stepping onto the bus. People started asking him if he was crying, or what that meltdown was about, but he just shrugged and put some earbuds in with a reserved smile.
Sports sucks. That’s the mindset (y/n) has, and probably will have forever.
But not when I’m with you.
——————
Epilogue:
“(Y/n)!” Kuroo ran up behind the boy and picked him up, twirling him around before setting him down. Tsukishima visibly gagged while Yamaguchi snickered behind him, stepping off the bus and preparing for the training camp.
“Yo! What’s up! God I missed you and your stupid hair.”
“I missed you too~”
...
“So...are we-“
“Yeah, that’s what we said on video chat right? I mean-if you meant it and all.”
“I DID!” Kuroo picked his new boyfriend up, this time placing a chaste kiss on the bridge of his nose.
“And god I love you so much.”
——————
And that’s it!! I hope you enjoyed this series!! Also thank you for 100 followers!! I’m so thankful!!
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thespookydoor · 6 years
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A WINTERNET'S TAIL Kinda wish I'd thought of this one *before* Christmas. =P Took me a while to put this all together, plus I've been on a bit of a post-holiday hiatus. My apologies to fellow Starlight Glimmer fans, feel free to blame it on the episode's own typecasting. It's what I did. ;) Suffice to say, Net Neutrality is going to be a bigger political issue than ever this year, so I would be genuinely surprised if this turned out to be the last project idea I had concerning it. https://shadesmaclean.deviantart.com/art/MLP-A-Winternet-s-Tail-728476022 TRANSCRIPT: RAINBOW DASH: Hay, Windfall Lost, all this talk of killing Net Neutrality? Tell me, why? WINDFALL LOST: Like any resource, the internet should be allowed to be sucked dry. Why shouldn't they be able to wring More bits out of us for the very same thing? Now that I've made sure Net Neutrality is dead, it's time to call it a day and go to bed... ...Who the hay are you? APPLEJACK: I'm the Ghost of Internet Past. Let's take a little walk 'Cause the both of us, we need to have a little talk... FILLY WINDFALL: ...but 1000's of miles of cables just gather dust in a warehouse, with no plan. If they're too bloated and top-heavy to serve rural Equestria, then let somepony who can. WALL $TREET: That's just something we feed investors to feel better about themselves because nopony actually competes in Equestria, we just pay state legislators for protectionist laws. APPLEJACK: Well, if that ain't a steaming pile of Flim-Flammin' horsepucky... To see somepony as bright as you grow up to become some lobbyist flunky... WINDFALL: Let me guess... PINKIE PIE: The Spirit of Internet Present, still bringing fun and innovation! Its promises fulfilled, in spite of spambots, trolls and vexatious litigation! FLUTTERSHY: Throttling, Zero-Rating, Silos and hidden price hikes... RARITY: Just what do they think a free and open internet looks like? RAINBOW DASH: Bend over, everypony, and they'll show ya! The voice of everypony, ignored 'em, with a lack of integrity or decorum, Their only support is astro-turfing spam-bots on the FCC forum! EVERYPONY: Boo-hiss! We didn't sign up for this! RARITY: So, what did they do with the millions of bits in subsidies ponies already pay? WINDFALL: Build tollbooths and paid fast lanes on the Information Superhighway... RAINBOW DASH: ...broadband service denied, they took us for a ride. In rural Equestria, Clopcast and Quirtrizon ARE the Digital Divide! PINKIE PIE: For a pile of bits, you'd break the Internet beyond repair? Now that's some moustache-twirling cartoon villainy there... WINDFALL: Whoa... Don't tell me, you're... PRINCESS LUNA: The Ghost of the Internet's future... Look around you, Windfall Lost, at what Net Neutrality's downfall cost... There may be no turning back from all the lines your call crossed... WINDFALL: But where's all the innovation? All the opportunity and wealth? LUNA: No Internet, just fractured networks that are only out for themselves... No innovation, just stagnation, to nopony's gain, cannibalizing themselves and others until only 3 remain... WINDFALL: This is no better than Saddle Arabia or Yakyakistan! Somepony, please! Make the Internet whole again! LUNA: Unless everypony out there starts to care a whole lot, this future you made won't get any better, no, it's not...
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anonsally · 7 years
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Today is the day
(apologies for spamming, but ... I am not sorry.) 
Today we are flooding the FCC with comments, calls, etc. to try to stop them from killing Net Neutrality. Changing this regulation would drastically change everything about the internet. The only reason they want to do this is to enable censorship--and as a way for internet service providers to charge us more while giving us less (which, by the way, would also be bad for our already-struggling democracy). WE MUST FIGHT IT. 
So, yes, please do reblog the posts about this, but that’s not enough. If you live in the U.S. and are someone who can make phone calls, please do. If you aren’t, please leave (another) comment with the FCC on their website. We can’t let them think we won’t notice.
(I have used two of the online tools to leave comments; it’s best to write at least a paragraph that is in your own original words and not just use the unmodified template. Just be aware that your address will be published with your comments on the FCC’s website, so if you have a PO Box you might want to use it instead of your street address. I also used Resistbot to send faxes to my senators and representative in Congress to speak out about this, though since all of them are Democrats they may already have done so.)
[I’m disturbed to see that Google does not seem to be one of the sites involved in this protest. Anyone know what’s up with that?]
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smartwebhostingblog · 5 years
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Fearful of bias, Google blocks gender-based pronouns from new AI tool
New Post has been published on http://cheapwebhostingfirms.com/fearful-of-bias-google-blocks-gender-based-pronouns-from-new-ai-tool/
Fearful of bias, Google blocks gender-based pronouns from new AI tool
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google in May introduced a slick feature for Gmail that automatically completes sentences for users as they type. Tap out “I love” and Gmail might propose “you” or “it.”
FILE PHOTO: The Google name is displayed outside the company’s office in London, Britain, November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
But users are out of luck if the object of their affection is “him” or “her.”
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 revealed to Reuters in interviews.
Gmail product manager Paul Lambert said a company research scientist discovered the problem in January when he typed “I am meeting an investor next week,” and Smart Compose suggested a possible follow-up question: “Do you want to meet him?” instead of “her.”
Consumers have become accustomed to embarrassing gaffes from autocorrect on smartphones. But Google refused to take chances at a time when gender issues are reshaping politics and society, and critics are scrutinizing potential biases in artificial intelligence like never before.
“Not all ‘screw ups’ are equal,” Lambert said. Gender is a “a big, big thing” to get wrong.
Getting Smart Compose right could be good for business. Demonstrating that Google understands the nuances of AI better than competitors is part of the company’s strategy to build affinity for its brand and attract customers to its AI-powered cloud computing tools, advertising services and hardware.
Gmail has 1.5 billion users, and Lambert said Smart Compose assists on 11 percent of messages worldwide sent from Gmail.com, where the feature first launched.
Smart Compose is an example of what AI developers call natural language generation (NLG), in which computers learn to write sentences by studying patterns and relationships between words in literature, emails and web pages.
A system shown billions of human sentences becomes adept at completing common phrases but is limited by generalities. Men have long dominated fields such as finance and science, for example, so the technology would conclude from the data that an investor or engineer is “he” or “him.” The issue trips up nearly every major tech company.
Lambert said the Smart Compose team of about 15 engineers and designers tried several workarounds, but none proved bias-free or worthwhile. They decided the best solution was the strictest one: Limit coverage. The gendered pronoun ban affects fewer than 1 percent of cases where Smart Compose would propose something, Lambert said.
“The only reliable technique we have is to be conservative,” said Prabhakar Raghavan, who oversaw engineering of Gmail and other services until a recent promotion.
NEW POLICY
Google’s decision to play it safe on gender follows some high-profile embarrassments for the company’s predictive technologies.
The company apologized in 2015 when the image recognition feature of its photo service labeled a black couple as gorillas. In 2016, Google altered its search engine’s autocomplete function after it suggested the anti-Semitic query “are jews evil” when users sought information about Jews.
Google has banned expletives and racial slurs from its predictive technologies, as well as mentions of its business rivals or tragic events.
The company’s new policy banning gendered pronouns also affected the list of possible responses in Google’s Smart Reply. That service allow users to respond instantly to text messages and emails with short phrases such as “sounds good.”
Google uses tests developed by its AI ethics team to uncover new biases. A spam and abuse team pokes at systems, trying to find “juicy” gaffes by thinking as hackers or journalists might, Lambert said.
Workers outside the United States look for local cultural issues. Smart Compose will soon work in four other languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French.
“You need a lot of human oversight,” said engineering leader Raghavan, because “in each language, the net of inappropriateness has to cover something different.”
WIDESPREAD CHALLENGE
Google is not the only tech company wrestling with the gender-based pronoun problem.
Agolo, a New York startup that has received investment from Thomson Reuters, uses AI to summarize business documents.
Its technology cannot reliably determine in some documents which pronoun goes with which name. So the summary pulls several sentences to give users more context, said Mohamed AlTantawy, Agolo’s chief technology officer.
He said longer copy is better than missing details. “The smallest mistakes will make people lose confidence,” AlTantawy said. “People want 100 percent correct.”
Yet, imperfections remain. Predictive keyboard tools developed by Google and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) propose the gendered “policeman” to complete “police” and “salesman” for “sales.”
Type the neutral Turkish phrase “one is a soldier” into Google Translate and it spits out “he’s a soldier” in English. So do translation tools from Alibaba (BABA.N) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O). Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) opts for “she” for the same phrase on its translation service for cloud computing customers.
AI experts have called on the companies to display a disclaimer and multiple possible translations.
Microsoft’s LinkedIn said it avoids gendered pronouns in its year-old predictive messaging tool, Smart Replies, to ward off potential blunders.
Alibaba and Amazon did not respond to requests to comment.
Warnings and limitations like those in Smart Compose remain the most-used countermeasures in complex systems, said John Hegele, integration engineer at Durham, North Carolina-based Automated Insights Inc, which generates news articles from statistics.
“The end goal is a fully machine-generated system where it magically knows what to write,” Hegele said. “There’s been a ton of advances made but we’re not there yet.”
Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Marla Dickerson
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Fearful of bias, Google blocks gender-based pronouns from new AI tool
New Post has been published on http://cheapwebhostingfirms.com/fearful-of-bias-google-blocks-gender-based-pronouns-from-new-ai-tool/
Fearful of bias, Google blocks gender-based pronouns from new AI tool
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google in May introduced a slick feature for Gmail that automatically completes sentences for users as they type. Tap out “I love” and Gmail might propose “you” or “it.”
FILE PHOTO: The Google name is displayed outside the company’s office in London, Britain, November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
But users are out of luck if the object of their affection is “him” or “her.”
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 revealed to Reuters in interviews.
Gmail product manager Paul Lambert said a company research scientist discovered the problem in January when he typed “I am meeting an investor next week,” and Smart Compose suggested a possible follow-up question: “Do you want to meet him?” instead of “her.”
Consumers have become accustomed to embarrassing gaffes from autocorrect on smartphones. But Google refused to take chances at a time when gender issues are reshaping politics and society, and critics are scrutinizing potential biases in artificial intelligence like never before.
“Not all ‘screw ups’ are equal,” Lambert said. Gender is a “a big, big thing” to get wrong.
Getting Smart Compose right could be good for business. Demonstrating that Google understands the nuances of AI better than competitors is part of the company’s strategy to build affinity for its brand and attract customers to its AI-powered cloud computing tools, advertising services and hardware.
Gmail has 1.5 billion users, and Lambert said Smart Compose assists on 11 percent of messages worldwide sent from Gmail.com, where the feature first launched.
Smart Compose is an example of what AI developers call natural language generation (NLG), in which computers learn to write sentences by studying patterns and relationships between words in literature, emails and web pages.
A system shown billions of human sentences becomes adept at completing common phrases but is limited by generalities. Men have long dominated fields such as finance and science, for example, so the technology would conclude from the data that an investor or engineer is “he” or “him.” The issue trips up nearly every major tech company.
Lambert said the Smart Compose team of about 15 engineers and designers tried several workarounds, but none proved bias-free or worthwhile. They decided the best solution was the strictest one: Limit coverage. The gendered pronoun ban affects fewer than 1 percent of cases where Smart Compose would propose something, Lambert said.
“The only reliable technique we have is to be conservative,” said Prabhakar Raghavan, who oversaw engineering of Gmail and other services until a recent promotion.
NEW POLICY
Google’s decision to play it safe on gender follows some high-profile embarrassments for the company’s predictive technologies.
The company apologized in 2015 when the image recognition feature of its photo service labeled a black couple as gorillas. In 2016, Google altered its search engine’s autocomplete function after it suggested the anti-Semitic query “are jews evil” when users sought information about Jews.
Google has banned expletives and racial slurs from its predictive technologies, as well as mentions of its business rivals or tragic events.
The company’s new policy banning gendered pronouns also affected the list of possible responses in Google’s Smart Reply. That service allow users to respond instantly to text messages and emails with short phrases such as “sounds good.”
Google uses tests developed by its AI ethics team to uncover new biases. A spam and abuse team pokes at systems, trying to find “juicy” gaffes by thinking as hackers or journalists might, Lambert said.
Workers outside the United States look for local cultural issues. Smart Compose will soon work in four other languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French.
“You need a lot of human oversight,” said engineering leader Raghavan, because “in each language, the net of inappropriateness has to cover something different.”
WIDESPREAD CHALLENGE
Google is not the only tech company wrestling with the gender-based pronoun problem.
Agolo, a New York startup that has received investment from Thomson Reuters, uses AI to summarize business documents.
Its technology cannot reliably determine in some documents which pronoun goes with which name. So the summary pulls several sentences to give users more context, said Mohamed AlTantawy, Agolo’s chief technology officer.
He said longer copy is better than missing details. “The smallest mistakes will make people lose confidence,” AlTantawy said. “People want 100 percent correct.”
Yet, imperfections remain. Predictive keyboard tools developed by Google and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) propose the gendered “policeman” to complete “police” and “salesman” for “sales.”
Type the neutral Turkish phrase “one is a soldier” into Google Translate and it spits out “he’s a soldier” in English. So do translation tools from Alibaba (BABA.N) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O). Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) opts for “she” for the same phrase on its translation service for cloud computing customers.
AI experts have called on the companies to display a disclaimer and multiple possible translations.
Microsoft’s LinkedIn said it avoids gendered pronouns in its year-old predictive messaging tool, Smart Replies, to ward off potential blunders.
Alibaba and Amazon did not respond to requests to comment.
Warnings and limitations like those in Smart Compose remain the most-used countermeasures in complex systems, said John Hegele, integration engineer at Durham, North Carolina-based Automated Insights Inc, which generates news articles from statistics.
“The end goal is a fully machine-generated system where it magically knows what to write,” Hegele said. “There’s been a ton of advances made but we’re not there yet.”
Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Marla Dickerson
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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lazilysillyprince · 5 years
Text
Fearful of bias, Google blocks gender-based pronouns from new AI tool
New Post has been published on http://cheapwebhostingfirms.com/fearful-of-bias-google-blocks-gender-based-pronouns-from-new-ai-tool/
Fearful of bias, Google blocks gender-based pronouns from new AI tool
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google in May introduced a slick feature for Gmail that automatically completes sentences for users as they type. Tap out “I love” and Gmail might propose “you” or “it.”
FILE PHOTO: The Google name is displayed outside the company’s office in London, Britain, November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
But users are out of luck if the object of their affection is “him” or “her.”
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 revealed to Reuters in interviews.
Gmail product manager Paul Lambert said a company research scientist discovered the problem in January when he typed “I am meeting an investor next week,” and Smart Compose suggested a possible follow-up question: “Do you want to meet him?” instead of “her.”
Consumers have become accustomed to embarrassing gaffes from autocorrect on smartphones. But Google refused to take chances at a time when gender issues are reshaping politics and society, and critics are scrutinizing potential biases in artificial intelligence like never before.
“Not all ‘screw ups’ are equal,” Lambert said. Gender is a “a big, big thing” to get wrong.
Getting Smart Compose right could be good for business. Demonstrating that Google understands the nuances of AI better than competitors is part of the company’s strategy to build affinity for its brand and attract customers to its AI-powered cloud computing tools, advertising services and hardware.
Gmail has 1.5 billion users, and Lambert said Smart Compose assists on 11 percent of messages worldwide sent from Gmail.com, where the feature first launched.
Smart Compose is an example of what AI developers call natural language generation (NLG), in which computers learn to write sentences by studying patterns and relationships between words in literature, emails and web pages.
A system shown billions of human sentences becomes adept at completing common phrases but is limited by generalities. Men have long dominated fields such as finance and science, for example, so the technology would conclude from the data that an investor or engineer is “he” or “him.” The issue trips up nearly every major tech company.
Lambert said the Smart Compose team of about 15 engineers and designers tried several workarounds, but none proved bias-free or worthwhile. They decided the best solution was the strictest one: Limit coverage. The gendered pronoun ban affects fewer than 1 percent of cases where Smart Compose would propose something, Lambert said.
“The only reliable technique we have is to be conservative,” said Prabhakar Raghavan, who oversaw engineering of Gmail and other services until a recent promotion.
NEW POLICY
Google’s decision to play it safe on gender follows some high-profile embarrassments for the company’s predictive technologies.
The company apologized in 2015 when the image recognition feature of its photo service labeled a black couple as gorillas. In 2016, Google altered its search engine’s autocomplete function after it suggested the anti-Semitic query “are jews evil” when users sought information about Jews.
Google has banned expletives and racial slurs from its predictive technologies, as well as mentions of its business rivals or tragic events.
The company’s new policy banning gendered pronouns also affected the list of possible responses in Google’s Smart Reply. That service allow users to respond instantly to text messages and emails with short phrases such as “sounds good.”
Google uses tests developed by its AI ethics team to uncover new biases. A spam and abuse team pokes at systems, trying to find “juicy” gaffes by thinking as hackers or journalists might, Lambert said.
Workers outside the United States look for local cultural issues. Smart Compose will soon work in four other languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French.
“You need a lot of human oversight,” said engineering leader Raghavan, because “in each language, the net of inappropriateness has to cover something different.”
WIDESPREAD CHALLENGE
Google is not the only tech company wrestling with the gender-based pronoun problem.
Agolo, a New York startup that has received investment from Thomson Reuters, uses AI to summarize business documents.
Its technology cannot reliably determine in some documents which pronoun goes with which name. So the summary pulls several sentences to give users more context, said Mohamed AlTantawy, Agolo’s chief technology officer.
He said longer copy is better than missing details. “The smallest mistakes will make people lose confidence,” AlTantawy said. “People want 100 percent correct.”
Yet, imperfections remain. Predictive keyboard tools developed by Google and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) propose the gendered “policeman” to complete “police” and “salesman” for “sales.”
Type the neutral Turkish phrase “one is a soldier” into Google Translate and it spits out “he’s a soldier” in English. So do translation tools from Alibaba (BABA.N) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O). Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) opts for “she” for the same phrase on its translation service for cloud computing customers.
AI experts have called on the companies to display a disclaimer and multiple possible translations.
Microsoft’s LinkedIn said it avoids gendered pronouns in its year-old predictive messaging tool, Smart Replies, to ward off potential blunders.
Alibaba and Amazon did not respond to requests to comment.
Warnings and limitations like those in Smart Compose remain the most-used countermeasures in complex systems, said John Hegele, integration engineer at Durham, North Carolina-based Automated Insights Inc, which generates news articles from statistics.
“The end goal is a fully machine-generated system where it magically knows what to write,” Hegele said. “There’s been a ton of advances made but we’re not there yet.”
Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Marla Dickerson
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Related Posts:
No Related Posts
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hostingnewsfeed · 5 years
Text
Fearful of bias, Google blocks gender-based pronouns from new AI tool
New Post has been published on http://noveltieshere.com/fearful-of-bias-google-blocks-gender-based-pronouns-from-new-ai-tool/
Fearful of bias, Google blocks gender-based pronouns from new AI tool
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google in May introduced a slick feature for Gmail that automatically completes sentences for users as they type. Tap out “I love” and Gmail might propose “you” or “it.”
FILE PHOTO: The Google name is displayed outside the company’s office in London, Britain, November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
But users are out of luck if the object of their affection is “him” or “her.”
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 revealed to Reuters in interviews.
Gmail product manager Paul Lambert said a company research scientist discovered the problem in January when he typed “I am meeting an investor next week,” and Smart Compose suggested a possible follow-up question: “Do you want to meet him?” instead of “her.”
Consumers have become accustomed to embarrassing gaffes from autocorrect on smartphones. But Google refused to take chances at a time when gender issues are reshaping politics and society, and critics are scrutinizing potential biases in artificial intelligence like never before.
“Not all ‘screw ups’ are equal,” Lambert said. Gender is a “a big, big thing” to get wrong.
Getting Smart Compose right could be good for business. Demonstrating that Google understands the nuances of AI better than competitors is part of the company’s strategy to build affinity for its brand and attract customers to its AI-powered cloud computing tools, advertising services and hardware.
Gmail has 1.5 billion users, and Lambert said Smart Compose assists on 11 percent of messages worldwide sent from Gmail.com, where the feature first launched.
Smart Compose is an example of what AI developers call natural language generation (NLG), in which computers learn to write sentences by studying patterns and relationships between words in literature, emails and web pages.
A system shown billions of human sentences becomes adept at completing common phrases but is limited by generalities. Men have long dominated fields such as finance and science, for example, so the technology would conclude from the data that an investor or engineer is “he” or “him.” The issue trips up nearly every major tech company.
Lambert said the Smart Compose team of about 15 engineers and designers tried several workarounds, but none proved bias-free or worthwhile. They decided the best solution was the strictest one: Limit coverage. The gendered pronoun ban affects fewer than 1 percent of cases where Smart Compose would propose something, Lambert said.
“The only reliable technique we have is to be conservative,” said Prabhakar Raghavan, who oversaw engineering of Gmail and other services until a recent promotion.
NEW POLICY
Google’s decision to play it safe on gender follows some high-profile embarrassments for the company’s predictive technologies.
The company apologized in 2015 when the image recognition feature of its photo service labeled a black couple as gorillas. In 2016, Google altered its search engine’s autocomplete function after it suggested the anti-Semitic query “are jews evil” when users sought information about Jews.
Google has banned expletives and racial slurs from its predictive technologies, as well as mentions of its business rivals or tragic events.
The company’s new policy banning gendered pronouns also affected the list of possible responses in Google’s Smart Reply. That service allow users to respond instantly to text messages and emails with short phrases such as “sounds good.”
Google uses tests developed by its AI ethics team to uncover new biases. A spam and abuse team pokes at systems, trying to find “juicy” gaffes by thinking as hackers or journalists might, Lambert said.
Workers outside the United States look for local cultural issues. Smart Compose will soon work in four other languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French.
“You need a lot of human oversight,” said engineering leader Raghavan, because “in each language, the net of inappropriateness has to cover something different.”
WIDESPREAD CHALLENGE
Google is not the only tech company wrestling with the gender-based pronoun problem.
Agolo, a New York startup that has received investment from Thomson Reuters, uses AI to summarize business documents.
Its technology cannot reliably determine in some documents which pronoun goes with which name. So the summary pulls several sentences to give users more context, said Mohamed AlTantawy, Agolo’s chief technology officer.
He said longer copy is better than missing details. “The smallest mistakes will make people lose confidence,” AlTantawy said. “People want 100 percent correct.”
Yet, imperfections remain. Predictive keyboard tools developed by Google and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) propose the gendered “policeman” to complete “police” and “salesman” for “sales.”
Type the neutral Turkish phrase “one is a soldier” into Google Translate and it spits out “he’s a soldier” in English. So do translation tools from Alibaba (BABA.N) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O). Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) opts for “she” for the same phrase on its translation service for cloud computing customers.
AI experts have called on the companies to display a disclaimer and multiple possible translations.
Microsoft’s LinkedIn said it avoids gendered pronouns in its year-old predictive messaging tool, Smart Replies, to ward off potential blunders.
Alibaba and Amazon did not respond to requests to comment.
Warnings and limitations like those in Smart Compose remain the most-used countermeasures in complex systems, said John Hegele, integration engineer at Durham, North Carolina-based Automated Insights Inc, which generates news articles from statistics.
“The end goal is a fully machine-generated system where it magically knows what to write,” Hegele said. “There’s been a ton of advances made but we’re not there yet.”
Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Marla Dickerson
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
0 notes
smartwebhostingblog · 5 years
Text
Fearful of bias, Google blocks gender-based pronouns from new AI tool
New Post has been published on http://noveltieshere.com/fearful-of-bias-google-blocks-gender-based-pronouns-from-new-ai-tool/
Fearful of bias, Google blocks gender-based pronouns from new AI tool
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google in May introduced a slick feature for Gmail that automatically completes sentences for users as they type. Tap out “I love” and Gmail might propose “you” or “it.”
FILE PHOTO: The Google name is displayed outside the company’s office in London, Britain, November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
But users are out of luck if the object of their affection is “him” or “her.”
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 revealed to Reuters in interviews.
Gmail product manager Paul Lambert said a company research scientist discovered the problem in January when he typed “I am meeting an investor next week,” and Smart Compose suggested a possible follow-up question: “Do you want to meet him?” instead of “her.”
Consumers have become accustomed to embarrassing gaffes from autocorrect on smartphones. But Google refused to take chances at a time when gender issues are reshaping politics and society, and critics are scrutinizing potential biases in artificial intelligence like never before.
“Not all ‘screw ups’ are equal,” Lambert said. Gender is a “a big, big thing” to get wrong.
Getting Smart Compose right could be good for business. Demonstrating that Google understands the nuances of AI better than competitors is part of the company’s strategy to build affinity for its brand and attract customers to its AI-powered cloud computing tools, advertising services and hardware.
Gmail has 1.5 billion users, and Lambert said Smart Compose assists on 11 percent of messages worldwide sent from Gmail.com, where the feature first launched.
Smart Compose is an example of what AI developers call natural language generation (NLG), in which computers learn to write sentences by studying patterns and relationships between words in literature, emails and web pages.
A system shown billions of human sentences becomes adept at completing common phrases but is limited by generalities. Men have long dominated fields such as finance and science, for example, so the technology would conclude from the data that an investor or engineer is “he” or “him.” The issue trips up nearly every major tech company.
Lambert said the Smart Compose team of about 15 engineers and designers tried several workarounds, but none proved bias-free or worthwhile. They decided the best solution was the strictest one: Limit coverage. The gendered pronoun ban affects fewer than 1 percent of cases where Smart Compose would propose something, Lambert said.
“The only reliable technique we have is to be conservative,” said Prabhakar Raghavan, who oversaw engineering of Gmail and other services until a recent promotion.
NEW POLICY
Google’s decision to play it safe on gender follows some high-profile embarrassments for the company’s predictive technologies.
The company apologized in 2015 when the image recognition feature of its photo service labeled a black couple as gorillas. In 2016, Google altered its search engine’s autocomplete function after it suggested the anti-Semitic query “are jews evil” when users sought information about Jews.
Google has banned expletives and racial slurs from its predictive technologies, as well as mentions of its business rivals or tragic events.
The company’s new policy banning gendered pronouns also affected the list of possible responses in Google’s Smart Reply. That service allow users to respond instantly to text messages and emails with short phrases such as “sounds good.”
Google uses tests developed by its AI ethics team to uncover new biases. A spam and abuse team pokes at systems, trying to find “juicy” gaffes by thinking as hackers or journalists might, Lambert said.
Workers outside the United States look for local cultural issues. Smart Compose will soon work in four other languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French.
“You need a lot of human oversight,” said engineering leader Raghavan, because “in each language, the net of inappropriateness has to cover something different.”
WIDESPREAD CHALLENGE
Google is not the only tech company wrestling with the gender-based pronoun problem.
Agolo, a New York startup that has received investment from Thomson Reuters, uses AI to summarize business documents.
Its technology cannot reliably determine in some documents which pronoun goes with which name. So the summary pulls several sentences to give users more context, said Mohamed AlTantawy, Agolo’s chief technology officer.
He said longer copy is better than missing details. “The smallest mistakes will make people lose confidence,” AlTantawy said. “People want 100 percent correct.”
Yet, imperfections remain. Predictive keyboard tools developed by Google and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) propose the gendered “policeman” to complete “police” and “salesman” for “sales.”
Type the neutral Turkish phrase “one is a soldier” into Google Translate and it spits out “he’s a soldier” in English. So do translation tools from Alibaba (BABA.N) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O). Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) opts for “she” for the same phrase on its translation service for cloud computing customers.
AI experts have called on the companies to display a disclaimer and multiple possible translations.
Microsoft’s LinkedIn said it avoids gendered pronouns in its year-old predictive messaging tool, Smart Replies, to ward off potential blunders.
Alibaba and Amazon did not respond to requests to comment.
Warnings and limitations like those in Smart Compose remain the most-used countermeasures in complex systems, said John Hegele, integration engineer at Durham, North Carolina-based Automated Insights Inc, which generates news articles from statistics.
“The end goal is a fully machine-generated system where it magically knows what to write,” Hegele said. “There’s been a ton of advances made but we’re not there yet.”
Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Marla Dickerson
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
0 notes