Prejudicial Algorithms

You might have heard about how Apple's iPhone facial recognition software can't recognize non-white faces? Hopefully, the problem will be solved, but a similar problem exists with Siri: she has trouble with non-native English pronunciation.

The glitch has become the source of Japanese contests on television: see who can sound the most non-Japanese (American) when speaking to Siri. Like the iPhone's facial recognition feature, Siri is in bad need of localization and racial diversification!

photo: "This is a pen" - a common phrase repeated by many Japanese learners of English

 

Photo by Craig Elliot from FreeImages.com

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