Ok, Google is so high profile that everything they do wrong is scrutinied under the spotlight, but pointing out their flaws is sometimes fun.
Seems that Google’s automated search spell checker is a bit sexist when it comes to correcting terms like “she invented” / “she created” / “she discovered” to “he invented” / “he created” / “he discovered”.
No, Borat is not doing the behind the scenes programming at Google, as the algorithm makes other suggestions which go against the masculine grain; like a search for “she stupid” results in “Did you mean : he stupid”
Google tells Dave Wischnowsky at the Chicago Tribune:
“Google develops its own spell-checking algorithms based on sophisticated machine learning methods, using cues from aggregated user input, Web documents, and many other sources,” the spokesperson replied via e-mail.
“The algorithm provides a ‘best-guess’ alternative suggestion that we think might improve the search results, and is completely generated without human input. It can be thought of as a suggestion offer, rather than a definitive answer.”
