[lisasays]

If a system consistently misclassifies persons black persons far more than white persons -- and does so in a way that's obviously provocative and offensive -- then by definition it's racist in its effect (regardless of intent). The fact that the smartest company in the world cannot seem to get a handle on this problem after 8 years is also not unreasonable grounds to suspect that something's up.

Like that they don't appreciate the gravity of the problem, for example.

[xeromal]

These are dangerous grounds to discuss, but I don't think it's racist (colloquially) at all. If gorillas were like yetis and covered in white fur and it started labeling anglos as gorillas, it's not racist either. Racism (colloquially) comes from bad people's intentions. Who would've thought that a creature that is very similar to us humans and has a color that matches some humans would accidentally classify something poorly.

What would be racist from this outcome is if it kept doing this and no one did anything. Clearly it hurts people's feelings and that is a very valid issue. Googles option to just nuke it is a great start until they can hammer out the kinks.

[lisasays]

Racism (colloquially) comes from bad people's intentions.

Racism can also be measured by its effect, regardless of intent.

What would be racist from this outcome is if it kept doing this and no one did anything.

After 8 years, that's seems to be precisely what's happening.

[xeromal]

Isn't the point of the article that it just refuses to recognize gorillas outright? That prevents exactly what you're talking about. And I made that point in my post. It is hurtful so Google prevent google photos from classifying anything as a Gorilla is a good bandaid. Some things are just too risky to solve for little gain.