Microsoft under fire due to popular Word program’s “Inclusiveness Checker,” which polices all forms of non-inclusive speech
Big Tech company Microsoft is once again under fire after it introduced an "Inclusiveness Checker" in its popular Word program, with concerns being raised over the potential for "speech policing."
The Inclusiveness Checker or Inclusivity Checker in Word can be used to check a person's writing for "gender, age, cultural bias and more." Word users can opt to deactivate this checker. But when it is used, when an individual writes anything using "non-inclusive" language, Word will suggest alternatives.
The said "tool" seems to work by flagging almost every word in the English language with a gendered connotation, including "mother" and "father." When users learned about the Inclusiveness Checker and attempted to see how far it would go, they found out that when using the term "maternity leave," the Checker would recommend changing the phrase with "birth-related leave," "parental leave" or "childbirth leave." When referring to "paternity leave," it suggests "child-bonding leave" as an alternative.
When users attempted to input the term "postman," the Inclusiveness Checker would suggest "postal worker." When using the term "manpower," the Checker would recommend replacing the word with "workforce."
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