If youre interested in reading about the global suffering of queer people Ive got just the place for you.
Its called Google News.
Todays actually an off day for the product.
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And its a really simple problem to solve.
But Google has no interest in doing so because the solution is to replace the algorithm with human curators.
But this news wasnt useful to the LGBTQ+ community at large.
And it certainly doesnt belong in the Pride section.Thats a mistake no human curator would have made.
Yesterday it was the top story in the Pride section.
Today, its been replaced by a news piece about someone taking a crap on a Pride flag.
In fact, all of the stories displayed in the section are negative.
So much for Pride.
Again, this isnt something that would happen with a human curator.
Bigots probably think its hilarious though.
But thats a ridiculous assertion thats easy to refute.
Theres some negative ones too.
Thats how balanced coverage works.
Unfortunately, Googles algorithms arent capable of finding balance or surfacing relevant pieces.
It surfaces what its been trained to look for.
Nearlyhalf of the people in the USuse an Android unit.
And most of those come with Google News preinstalled.
That means Google News is among the globes largest aggregators of news.
Thats bound to have some consequences.
The biggest problem is that Google isan AI company.
And the answer to every problem it faces is always going to be: more AI.
And, because of that, Googles become old and out of touch.
AI isnt the future.
Its just a tool.
The future is people.
We reached out to Google for comment.
Well update this piece if we get a response.
It does not distinguish between positive or negative news.
