Microsoft Office’s “woke” spellcheck program is getting new attention after its creation in 2020.
This week, the feature was discovered by GizmodoAnd Daily Mail.
The company said the feature was first created in March 2020 and reportedly flags “insensitive phrases,” according to Gizmodo:
“Some examples include changing “blacklist” and “whitelist” to “accepted” or “allowed list,” or swapping the gender-specific “postman” with “postal worker.” Similarly, “humanity” or “humankind” is recommended over “mankind,” and “expert” is suggested when the software flags “master,” a term linked with slavery.”
The default settings are to turn the feature off, although users can change them to indicate which inclusive features they want. The “offending” terms are underlined in purple and inclusive alternatives are suggested.
Original report by The SunSome other examples of this include:
“[E]xamples…are ‘maid’ (Word suggests ‘house cleaner’), ‘showgirl’ (‘dancer’ or ‘performing artist’), ‘headmaster’ (‘principal’), ‘mistress’ (‘lover’), ‘master’ (‘expert’), and ‘manpower’ (‘workforce’).”
For its part, Microsoft recognized that the feature probably isn’t “suitable for all scenarios.”
“Microsoft understands that not every Editor suggestion may be suitable for all users and all scenarios,” the company told Daily Mail. “That’s why we let users be in control of their final output. Editor can be turned on and off by users at any time. Editor is not capable of making autocorrections. If any suggestions are offered, the user can choose which ones to use. They will be able to turn on and off each one of them individually.”
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