谷歌识图去标签：因性别标签可能会制造或增加偏见

Google has announced that its image recognition AI will no longer identify people in images as a man or a woman. The change was revealed in an email to developers who use the company's Cloud Vision API that makes it easy for apps and services to identify objects in images.

谷歌宣布，其图像识别人工智能将不再识别图像中人物的性别。在发给使用谷歌云视觉API的开发者的一封邮件中，谷歌透露了这一改变，谷歌的API使应用程序和服务可以更容易地识别图像中的物体。

In the email, Google said it wasn't possible to detect a person's true gender based simply on the clothes they were wearing. But Google also said that they were dropping gender labels for another reason: they could create or reinforce biases. From the email:

谷歌在邮件中表示，只通过一个人的衣着是无法判断其真实性别的。但谷歌也表示，他们摘掉性别标签还有另一个原因：那就是性别标签可能会制造或增加偏见。邮件中写道：

Given that a person's gender cannot be inferred by appearance, we have decided to remove these labels in order to align with the Artificial Intelligence Principles at Google, specifically Principle #2: Avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias.

鉴于通过外表并不能推断出一个人的性别，我们决定去掉这些标签，以与谷歌的人工智能准则保持一致，特别是第二项原则：避免制造或增加不公平的偏见。

As for what Google's second AI principle states, it says:

谷歌的第二项人工智能准则指出：

AI algorithms and datasets can reflect, reinforce, or reduce unfair biases. We recognize that distinguishing fair from unfair biases is not always simple, and differs across cultures and societies. We will seek to avoid unjust impacts on people, particularly those related to sensitive characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, income, sexual orientation, ability, and political or religious belief.

人工智能算法和数据集可以反映、增加或减少不公平的偏见。我们意识到，区分公平和不公平的偏见并不总是容易的，而且在不同的文化和社会中也会有所不同。我们会努力避免对人们产生不公平的影响，特别是那些与敏感特征有关的影响，如种族、民族、性别、国籍、收入、性取向、能力以及政治或宗教信仰。

Instead of labeling someone a man or woman in an image, that individual will now just be classified as a "person" by Google's Cloud Vision API image recognition tools. The move should be a welcome step in the right direction for those who have long pointed out that Google and other tech companies' systems have an issue correctly categorizing people who identify as trans. Per Business Insider's testing, it appears that the labeling changes have already taken place, so developers who use the API should see the changes immediately.

如今，在谷歌的云视觉API图像识别工具中，人们在图像中不会被贴上性别标签，而是被归类为“人”。长期以来一直有人指出，谷歌和其他科技公司的系统在正确判定变性人方面存在问题。对他们而言，谷歌的这一举动可以说是朝正确的方向迈出的可喜的一步。根据Business Insider的测试，谷歌的标签似乎已经产生了变化，因此使用API的开发人员应该也能即刻看到这种改变。