Why is this a nightmare scenario for a computational linguist? Because automatic processing of speech (whether for transcription or detecting any other info in the speech signal) does not work equally well for different people.
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I have been working on societal impacts of language technology since late 2016, and my nightmare example since pretty early on has been using automatic transcription in emergency services systems.
And today I learn it's happening *in my own city*
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
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This is wildly unacceptable to have implemented without a robust public process.
Just finished reading The AI Con by @emilymbender.bsky.social and @alexhanna.bsky.social
A fantastic book dismantling AI hype and talking about a more human future for AI.
It’s refreshing to read, so many business meetups are caught up with the AI dream, it’s good to take a hard, critical look.
Looks like WA has a carve-out from two-party consent specifically for emergency calls:
app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default....
