I’ve always wondered the effect of cultural differences in AI. If the people making AI possible experience a situation that could be likened to a culture shock. I researched and there has been which I will be sharing.
1. Microsoft Cat Dating Site
In 2017, Microsoft Translate incorrectly translated the Chinese phrase “wuwuwu” as “I love you”. This was because the emoji used to represent “wuwuwu” in Chinese is also used to represent the sound of a cat purring.
This incident caused some confusion and amusement among users of Microsoft Translate. Some users joked that Microsoft Translate was now a dating app for cats, while others pointed out that the error was a sign that the company needed to improve its machine learning algorithms.
Microsoft eventually fixed the error in Microsoft Translate. However, the incident remains a reminder of the challenges of machine translation. Even the most advanced machine translation algorithms can make mistakes, especially when dealing with languages that have different cultures and nuances.
2. The offensive ✌
In 2019, a Chinese company ByteDance developed an AI translation service that was able to translate emojis. However, the service was quickly taken offline after it was found to be translating emojis in a way that was offensive to certain cultures.
One example of this was the translation of the peace sign ✌️. In some cultures, the peace sign is a friendly gesture, but in other cultures, it is considered to be an offensive gesture. ByteDance’s AI translation service translated the peace sign as an offensive gesture in some cultures, which caused offense to users of those cultures.
ByteDance quickly took the AI translation service offline after the incident. The company apologized for the error, and said that it was working to improve the translation service so that it would not offend users in the future.
3. The research on Emojis and AI translators
In 2020, a study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley found that emojis can actually make it more difficult for AI translation services to accurately translate text. This is because emojis can have multiple meanings, and AI translation services often struggle to understand the context in which they are used.
For example, the study found that AI translation services were more likely to translate the emoji 😂 as “happy” when it was used in a sarcastic way. This is because the AI translation services did not understand the cultural meaning of the emoji, which is often used to express laughter or amusement, even when it is not meant to be taken seriously.
The study also found that AI translation services were more likely to translate the emoji 😭 as “sad” when it was used in a dramatic way. This is because the AI translation services did not understand the context in which the emoji was used, which is often used to express strong emotions, even when it is not meant to be taken literally.
The study’s findings suggest that AI translation services still have a long way to go before they can accurately translate text that contains emojis. As emojis become more popular, it will be important for AI translation services to improve their ability to understand and translate them.