Google's Nexus One Voice Recognition Feature Censors Bad Words
Reuters reports that the voice recognition feature on Google's Nexus One smartphone that converts spoken word to text automatically sensors offensive words and replaces curse words with # symbols.
Try uttering a curse word into the Nexus One, and the well-mannered device will automatically replace the offensive expression with a string of # symbols.
Thus, a jocular text message inquiring about a buddy’s whereabouts is transcribed as "Hey #### where are you?" on the Nexus One; A spirited rejoinder to a dubious assertion becomes "that's bull #### and you know it."
Google told Reuters the voice recognition cleans up bad words as a way to make sure it doesn't accidentally use a bad word where a non-offensive word was intendend.
A Google spokeswoman provided a statement suggesting that replacing curses with # symbols aimed less at enforcing etiquette than to ensure that offensive words don’t accidentally appear in transcriptions - a potential concern given the fact that voice recognition technology is still not perfect.
"We filter potentially offensive or inappropriate results because we want to avoid situations whereby we might misrecognize a spoken query and return profanity when, in fact, the user said something completely innocent," said Google.
No curse words are probably better than unintended curse words.
