Abyssian comments on It's not just Arabs... Google's AI hates black folks.

It's not just Arabs... Google's AI hates black folks. (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by Abyssian@lemmy.world to c/fuck_ai@lemmy.world

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And because I had to try it...

There's no excuse for that shit. I could see some 5 foot tall woman being nervous of a big black guy. It's not alright, but society isn't perfect and I'm not going to pretend it is.

But when the question is clearly and blatantly racist and Google assumes the victim is the problem? That's every sort of fucked up.

Problem solved. Now I need to finally change my email address. I've definitely put that off too long.

[–] Abyssian@lemmy.world [S] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (5 children)

Don't do that shit, please. It's used as a stand in for the same word in my image and it's used to hurt people. Normalizing slurs in general just breeds more hate, but when they're extremely similar in form and usage to slurs that have been used for generations against groups of people they just become safe alternatives.

I posted a few days ago because I had to try explaining to my niece why kids at school think it's cute and funny to stare at black people and talk about how much they hate clankas.

When I talked to her principal she "explained" to me how the kids were talking about AI. It's just letting racist assholes have a safe excuse, and it's definitely not making the AI feel bad.

edit I'm not saying you're using it with those intents at all. But people do. Making it normal just gives racists an excuse and lazy/racist administrators an excuse to not do anything about it.

And I'm not the one who down voted you. I hate that. We can't just communicate without people deciding someone they feel righteous in judging deserves hate... and this is a thing a whole lot of people in here do.

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[–] tyler@programming.dev 3 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Wait, I’m very confused how a term for robots is being used in place of slurs. If people are doing that they can do it with any terms, they could be calling them robots to start with. This is exactly how the far right has weaponized other terms, symbols, and even flags. I absolutely hate to be linking a substack here but this article gives a tiny overview of all the things that are just normal terms that have been completely co-opted by fascists to mean something different. https://resistancecalisthenics.substack.com/p/hijacking-words-how-fascists-twist

Not using the word clanker isn’t going to stop it, they’ll either switch to another word they can steal or they’ll take it completely (which is worse, cause now they’re influencing you and your vocabulary).

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[–] Abyssian@lemmy.world [S] -1 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Clanker, wireback, cogsucker... all of the common anti-AI slurs are variations of existing slurs against humans. People use them in the same exact ways.

The terms didn't start as just being anti-AI. They started as racist or homophobic slurs that were then altered slightly by people who thought it would be cute to use slight variations of them against AI.

Instead of coming up with new terms entirely, people just ran with that. Now when someone in a community that sees those anti-ai terms increasingly used in place of the original slurs mentions that they tend to get swarmed in down votes and responses saying it's not the same and calling them thin skinned.

You can look just on Lemmy much less the rest of the internet and find people being called "clanker lover", discussions about using the "hard r" instead of saying clanka, and people saying "my clankas."

It's not a clean term. Yes, it was used in star wars. That doesn't make it better. Slurs in general do nothing good. They don't have any positive effect on the world, the people hearing them, or the people using them. It feels good to vent hate at something we feel justified in othering and hating. That's a relic from evolutionary psychology, it's not a good thing.

Go read through people using "clanker" and you'll know the other word that would have fit perfectly in it's place. Normalizing that doesn't do any good. It doesn't make AI feel bad. It doesn't make the people funding AI rethink their decisions. It's just a vent for hate and the only victims it impacts are human victims you may not intend, but who do get hit by it.

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[+] LostWanderer@fedia.io 2 points 2 months ago* (1 child)

[deleted]

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[–] Abyssian@lemmy.world [S] 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Those words you're calling insults didn't just appear as AI insults. They're all based on slurs used against groups of humans for generations. That's the problem.

It gives racists an easy new slur to use because it was based on the slur they want to be using anyway, except it also gives them an out from the social repercussions because they can lie and say they were just talking about ai since people online defend using those terms so fiercely.

I have nothing against insulting AI or the people that want to use it to replace human labor. Using slight modifications of existing human slurs that are used in the exact same manner as those human slurs is not a great way to do that.

Telling people that they're being thin-skinned for seeing the clear connection between clanker and the n-word when clanker is now actively being used by racists against black children is a very bad vibe.

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[–] tyler@programming.dev 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

You are just being cryptic. In what world could clanker mean anything except robot. You are trying to educate someone on what you think is right, tell us what words you think it is replacing. Tell us how any of the things you’ve listed are variations of older slurs. And tell us how directing hate at something that isn’t human is somehow worse than directing it at humans. Would you rather people be using slurs against each other or against something with no consciousness?

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[–] Abyssian@lemmy.world [S] 1 point 2 months ago

People do use those slurs against other people.

You can look just on Lemmy much less the rest of the internet and find people being called “clanker lover”, discussions about using the “hard r” instead of saying clanka, and people saying “my clankas.”

This is not being cryptic. If you can't understand that it's being used in direct replacement of the n-word and folk who spent their lives hearing it are taking abuse from your new beloved twist on the slur then you're actively trying to not understand.

You're sitting there arguing with a near 50 year old black man that the word "clanker' can't offend humans about a week after I had to go try talking to my 10 year old niece's principal because racist kids there have decided it's cute and fun to stare at black kids and loudly talk about how much they hate "clankas."

Want to know her response? This same stupid shit of trying to "educate" me and reassure me than clankas means AI and they weren't being racist at all. Try explaining to a 10 year old girl why all the people in charge who say they're so caring don't actually give a fuck because they have a convenient excuse to hide behind.