AI moderation is no match for hate speech in Ethiopian languages

#low-resource languages   #translation   #misinformation and disinformation   #dystopia   #hate speech   #link  

One approach for classifying content is to translate the text into English, then analyze it. This has very predictable side effects if you aren't tweaking the model:

One example outlined in the paper showed that in English, references to a dove are often associated with peace. In Basque, a low-resource language, the word for dove (uso) is a slur used against feminine-presenting men. An AI moderation system that is used to flag homophobic hate speech, and dominated by English-language training data, may struggle to identify “uso” as it is meant.