Google’s ‘Racist’ Glitch | Newsweek The Technologist

Posted By: Progressive @ 11/30/2007 5:32:51 PM

Comment: If you are not African-American, then it is difficult to understand why something like this is a big deal. The idea that "the race card is pulled all the time" speaks directly to the fact that ignorance of social realities has begun to run rampant in this country. It really saddens me to see how this culture of cultural and historical ignorance is growing to pervade the non-black community in this country. The insensitivity to racial issues these days is jaw-dropping; it's almost as if we are reverting to a pre-reconstruction period in this country. Honestly, lets try investing a bit into the history of cultures that are not our own, it could go along way to solving this disconnection problem growing more and more everyday between our cultures. The comments that I've read in this post are just plain disheartening...wow.

Posted By: MadeWithMacromedia @ 11/19/2007 11:05:48 AM

Comment: Whatever! People pull the racist card out all the time... it gets boring! If I were Google... I'de be all like, "Oh, woops!" and that's that's!

Posted By: coolrepublica @ 11/10/2007 11:13:52 PM

Comment: Two successful black men are confused with monkeys by robots on a server and people are upset. I don't get it. The machine has no concept of human and animal.

If it was two successful white men that were confused with Ritz crackers, everyone would be laughing.

I take comfort in knowing that robots are still pretty stupid compared to humans. It was funny and that's all there is to it.

Posted By: fsilber @ 11/08/2007 7:19:54 AM

Comment: They're over-reacting. I don't think anyone has ever compared African Americans with that species of monkey.

Posted By: cadedid @ 11/06/2007 9:15:25 AM

Comment: I am sick and tired of the same old lame excuses when it comes to racial felonies against African Americans. What a sad group (those responsible) that walks among us. Take a look in the mirror, what are you, and what makes you think you are so great. Whoever is responsible is sick and needs much help. Praying for you.

Posted By: RFFNY1 @ 11/05/2007 7:18:58 PM

Comment: Once a word has been spoken [or written] and cannot be swallowed back down when digested by an attentive ear [or eyes] RFFNY1

Posted By: RFFNY1 @ 11/05/2007 7:17:40 PM

Comment: Once a word has been spoken [or written] it cannot be swalllowed by after being digested by an attentive ear [or eyes]. RFF

Posted By: ucansaycok2 @ 11/04/2007 12:03:29 AM

Comment: hmm a chimpanzee maybe its because the article mentioned BUSH????????????????????????????

Posted By: lanjoe9 @ 11/03/2007 8:22:24 PM

Comment: Of course a primate could do a better job, thanks to several thousands of years of evolution.

If you think something that a "first grader" can do should be no big feat for a computer, then you clearly don't know enough about computers.

Posted By: craigyk @ 11/03/2007 6:07:01 PM

Comment: Clearly an article written by a layman who is under the misconception that "intelligent" keyword search, especially for images, is somehow easy. It is not. Google could perhaps modify their algorithm to reduce the number of such mistakes but at what cost to other search queries? If you doubt their engineers are not trying to always reduce the number of false negatives and positives, you are mistaken, they just might not be concerned about the same corner cases. Furthermore, no one should be insulted by the result of an algorithm- if the algorithm found a link between these CEOs and a picture of monkeys perhaps it is merely reflecting a racist meme present in human society, more likely (in this case) the result was an error. You argue that Google should have endeavored to 'correct' this one result but I disagree. The engineer's time is much better spent in improving the algorithms to prevent these mistakes than in correcting each one as they occur. Your parting quip that "it seems a primate could do a better job" is cute, but perhaps you mean a human could do a better job, and by better, you mean more accurate. Feel free to use a search engine that is audited by human inspection. Even Google would acknowledge that it is more accurate. For me 'better' is a mixture of accuracy, speed, and comprehensiveness. A human audited search might also be more biased than an impersonal one- for example biased against making racist associations, which you would prefer, but what other biases would it contain that you would not agree with?. It is silly to be insulted by a computer's mistake, if one is insulted by Google's refusal to 'correct' such a mistake that is a slightly more appropriate but ignores many of the complications and details involved in 'correcting' such mistakes. If the price of continually correcting such mistakes distracts engineers from making fundamental improvements, or worsens the results of other search queries I believe the cost would be too high.

Posted By: dwashington @ 11/03/2007 4:02:20 PM

Comment: whats up with all the anti-black thing going on lately? i thought we didnt have a racism problem anymore. "just a bunch of victims who play the race card".

racists should move on to a new group, we have execs getting hundreds of millions by failing just like you.

how about mexicans? remember we were'nt a threat 30years ago either.

Posted By: dwashington @ 11/03/2007 3:58:46 PM

Comment: please. whats with all the racism against blacks all these years after we "don't have racism anymore, just victims"?

Posted By: TooDamnDumb @ 11/03/2007 8:57:54 AM

Comment: I don`t undrstand why Google would slander simian primates by comparing them to these guys from Merrill Lynch . After today`s bombshell about how Merill hid a ten billion dollar loss from shareholders, it seems that the Hyena would be more appropiate.
Why are African Americans insulted by primate allusions, anyway. Simians are strong, a male chimp can pull the arms off a man and a low lands gorrilla can crush a Volkswagon. Baboons are the only animals that will face certain death to give their troop time to escape predators like leopards. Primates are brave, smart, clever, and loyal. I would be proud to be apelike and simian not like other men and wimian. Sorry Ogden.
Toodamndumb

Posted By: Randy1907 @ 11/03/2007 3:14:53 AM

Comment: This is absurd and fallacious. The editors of this magazine are deranged.

Posted By: knicknaime @ 11/02/2007 7:53:53 PM

Comment: At Purdue University in Indiana, the fraternity Alpha Epsison Pi (AEP) is known as the Ape House, due to the body hair of many of its members. It is a highly prejudiced fraternity, allowing only Jewish members. The use of the word Ape was purposeful. Google's goof was accidental. Get real.

Posted By: knicknaime @ 11/02/2007 6:30:27 PM

Comment: Hire people, not machines. Duh

Posted By: mynamehear @ 11/02/2007 6:25:29 PM

Comment: Who gives a rats a$$! I'm sure if the shareholders of either of these companies had their way- they wouldn't degrade a rhesus monkey by comparing it to either one of these fools!

Posted By: mynamehear @ 11/02/2007 6:23:33 PM

Comment: Who gives a rats ***! If shareholders had their way I'm sure they would have compared both these idiots to monkeys!

Posted By: MaxxEPadd @ 11/02/2007 5:56:51 PM

Comment: Whaaaaa! It's racist! I demand reparations!!!!

Posted By: Padre Pops @ 11/02/2007 5:45:14 PM

Comment: It seems in Google's drive to be the biggest, fastest, and best, the corporation has lost sight of the first principle of being the most accurate. If what I read is true about the "crawlers", the photo crawler needs to be shut down and used for fishing. They could be honest, too, and admit outside interference. But wouldn't that admit vulnerability? We can't have that can we?

Posted By: usseryrl @ 11/02/2007 5:30:55 PM

Comment: Hey now that might be perfect if it were Bush and Cheney!

Posted By: lumbee1 @ 11/02/2007 4:40:22 PM

Comment: It cannot be chance. The broad scope of Google crawling means a mismatch could be just about any image. So, why would monkeys, of all things, be linked to African-Americans? I suspect some of Google's own programmers are purposely manipulating the data. That is what they should be concerned about.

Posted By: eyeswideopen @ 11/02/2007 4:39:09 PM

Comment: Give me a break.

Posted By: dmanfrank @ 11/02/2007 4:26:50 PM

Comment: IF IT AIN'T THE JEWS WHINNING, IT'S THE BLACKS AND IF IT ANI'T THEM IT'S THE WOMEN AND IF NOBODY'S WHINNING, THEY'RE SUING..

Posted By: Koba @ 11/02/2007 4:19:55 PM

Comment: LOLOL - that's hysterical!

Posted By: Koba @ 11/02/2007 4:19:15 PM

Comment: LOLOL - that's hysterical!

Posted By: Himmler @ 11/02/2007 3:05:14 PM

Comment: I think this would be an easy mistake to make. Hope it didn't offend any monkeys.

Posted By: bradyd67 @ 11/02/2007 2:19:32 PM

Comment: I don't believe Google when they say they have no racist policies. After they bought YouTube, my hopes that YouTube would get rid of their Nazi and White Power videos were dashed.

Not only did they not work faster than the original YouTube methods, they actually slowed down the removal process.

To me, this is an obvious policy of racism and supporting Nazi and White Power groups.

In other words, YouTube/Google is promoting Nazi and White Power propaganda.

http://stevensdad.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!7D3E2CA8519489E7!163.entry

Just one site among hundreds that YouTube/Google allows on their site. They do not care if Nazi and White Power groups are feeding our children with their propaganda and hate.

There is no telling how many deaths YouTube/Google is responsible for.

Dan

Posted By: bradyd67 @ 11/02/2007 2:18:43 PM

Comment: I don't believe Google when they say they have no racist policies. After they bought YouTube, my hopes that YouTube would get rid of their Nazi and White Power videos were dashed.

Not only did they not work faster than the original YouTube methods, they actually slowed down the removal process.

To me, this is an obvious policy of racism and supporting Nazi and White Power groups.

In other words, YouTube/Google is promoting Nazi and White Power propaganda.

http://stevensdad.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!7D3E2CA8519489E7!163.entry

Just one site among hundreds that YouTube/Google allows on their site. They do not care if Nazi and White Power groups are feeding our children with their propaganda and hate.

There is no telling how many deaths YouTube/Google is responsible for.

Dan

Posted By: TELLTHETRUTH @ 11/02/2007 2:18:42 PM

Comment: why do white people come up with ridiculous lies when they are revealed saying or doing something thats racist? and then they actually believe people are stupid enough to believe it? Google can control that screen grab center. let their be a story of the jewish ADL and i GUARANTEE u there wont be a furnace advertisment or a prison camp ground pop-up. u wouldnt even think of such a thing happening. can u imagine the mess that would start. but when its someone black..... people think they can dumb-down" and say "oh its a glitch that coulnt be prevented". YEAH RIGHT. right now in this country gay polticians and white racism runs an excuse machine that is absolutley hilarious. u really cant get angry when u listen to the horrendous lying
excuses. youve got all of these white ceos stealing, embezzeling, cheating, lying, showing incompetence, non-fund raiser, non-bottomline producers, playing CEO and get monstrous bonuses when they at las get fired. u never have any glitch concerning them and Google yet when 2 great black men experience impending release from their position all of a sudden the latent racism that infects white people rears its
grotesque face. no matter what u say white people just cant un-leash themselves from the stain of inherent racism. white people may publically befriend u, laugh with u, etc etc. but inherently there is something in white DNA that is racist. racist against ALL peoles of color. they cant help it. its in their DNA that they are superior when in truth their "kind" was the last to inhabit the planet. being white is the "last mohican" of the human color spectrum.

Posted By: factotum75 @ 11/02/2007 2:14:01 PM

Comment: I use google news all the time and I can tell you this sort of thing happens a lot for some reason. I saw a story once with a headline about teens and STDs, with a picture of a mans *** next to the headline. Also just today I saw (in the health section again) a headline about cancer and dieting with a picture of a naked ,morbidly obsese man next to it.

Posted By: Aswad6 @ 11/02/2007 1:31:58 PM

Comment: This could be the worst article ever written. There is no substance and the author unprofessionally mocks Google for not being perfect. The juvenile jabs merely detract from the story. Furthermore, the author is attempting to start a controversey over a non-issue. It was merely a technical mistake, as the author readily admits through the entire article. What a waste of time. I expected better from Newsweek.

Posted By: OJMD @ 11/02/2007 1:03:14 PM

Comment: I think this is a lot more than just a random glitch. This seems similar to the "Google bombing" case last year where the search term "complete failure" would result in a link to www.WhiteHouse.gov. If enough people are using specific terms and linking them to particular web page, it will affect search results. I have personally seen horrible, racist rants online about Richard Parsons that refer to him as a monkey, so I suspect the search engines are (unfortunately) reacting to this. I wish it was a technical problem, but I think this is entirely man-made.

Similarly, the Newsweek.com page I'm reading this story on has a link to a "related article" about monkeys, and a Google ad about racism.

Posted By: OJMD @ 11/02/2007 1:02:55 PM

Comment: I think this is a lot more than just a random glitch. This seems similar to the "Google bombing" case last year where the search term "complete failure" would result in a link to www.WhiteHouse.gov. If enough people are using specific terms and linking them to particular web page, it will affect search results. I have personally seen horrible, racist rants online about Richard Parsons that refer to him as a monkey, so I suspect the search engines are (unfortunately) reacting to this. I wish it was a technical problem, but I think this is entirely man-made.

Similarly, the Newsweek.com page I'm reading this story on has a link to a "related article" about monkeys, and a Google ad about racism.

Posted By: CyMac @ 11/02/2007 11:45:27 AM

Comment: Accidental or not, the same damage is done.

Posted By: CyMac @ 11/02/2007 11:41:39 AM

Comment: Maybe this is why Google sells @ over $700 a share on the "White Market"

Posted By: ferdeliznews @ 11/02/2007 11:35:47 AM

Comment: Oh yeah, I'd like to believe you Googgle. I really do.

Posted By: ferdeliznews @ 11/02/2007 11:31:53 AM

Comment: Oh yeah, I'd like to believe you Googgle. I really do

Posted By: Joemama @ 11/02/2007 10:50:43 AM

Comment: I'm getting sick and tired of reading these articles by left-wing, political war-mongering writers trying to stir the PC pot with their pathetic efforts to appear so "stunned" that anyone or anything would dare think, say or indicate through actions anything negative toward a black person. That's right, I said "black" person. I have a philosophical opposition to referring to them as "African Americans" when 90% of them couldn't find Africa on a map. The only reason they're ever in the news for anything other than committing felonies is when you "wanna feel good about yourselves by taking up a worthless cause" idiots waste everyone's time by writing about something as ridiculous as this. Do I care that monkeys showed up opposite their pictures? No! Do they resemble monkeys? Yes. Would I care if a box of saltine crackers showed up next to a picture of Bill Gates and John Chambers? No! So why did you write this stupid article? Do you think it has ingratiated you with the Jerry Springer crowd? You're a friggin' idiot!

Posted By: Brian_Geary @ 11/02/2007 9:39:09 AM

Comment: Oh brother! I'm sure good and decent people everywhere INCLUDING BLACKS are getting sick of this politically correct garbage!

Posted By: wunderkinder @ 11/02/2007 8:51:55 AM

Comment: Cry me a river. In the big scheme of things, does a computer glitch such as this even matter? Is it costing lives? Are people going hungry because of it? No. It only appears that some who are looking for a reason to be offended and looking for a reason to complain have succeeded in reaching their goal.

Posted By: RickJames @ 11/02/2007 7:59:37 AM

Comment: From the story, it appears Google views that the belief they can be hacked is worse than a belief they might be racist. In the information world, I guess the appearance of the former proves the most deadly. All in all, this piece is more of an editorial than a news story, especially the last line. I am going to assume that the writer meant a monkey or chimp or ape etc could do a better job than Google because as most of us learned in 5th grade, humans are also primates.

Posted By: ldargin @ 11/02/2007 7:45:27 AM

Comment: More Google glitches can be seen here: http://www.erasmatazz.com/library/Miscellania/GoogleBobbles.html

Posted By: NWmcat @ 11/02/2007 6:59:28 AM

Comment: Funniest story I ever saw!!!

Posted By: Infodiva Librarian @ 11/02/2007 1:51:48 AM

Comment: I would think a company that is as innovative and resourceful as Google would not have this problem. I have lost faith in the company as a result.

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