Google will adapt its search engine to the skin tone of Internet users

The company has introduced a palette of ten skin tones that will allow a better representation of search results, especially on Google Images.

On the occasion of its 2022 annual conference, Google presented its latest projects and products to be released. Among these, the company announced a new tool to enhance the representation of different skin tones on the web.

More precisely, it is a file A new spectrum of ten skin colorsIt was created in partnership with physician and sociologist Ellis Monk. This tool is called the Monk Skin Tone Scale, which is the repository of monk skin tones in English.

Such a panel will allow, for example, artificial intelligence to better recognize faces, regardless of their skin color. Algorithms, from Google or other tech giants, are regularly criticized for their ignorance of black skin, opening the door to discriminatory bias.

These tools generally have difficulty recognizing or identifying dark-skinned people. Many companies have also realized this in recent years, and have announced improvement projects.

Improved search results

In fact, a palette of different skin tones will be presented within the search engine to direct the user to the most relevant results.

“When you search for makeup-related image examples in Google Images, you’ll now see an option to narrow your results by skin tone. So if you’re searching for ‘daily eye shadow’ or ‘bridal makeup’, you’ll find results more tailored to your needs,” he specifies. Google press release.

Finally, the panel will also be integrated into the Google Photos auto corrector, in order to better reflect the original shadows.

Google has given it a collaborative career by encouraging internet users to use “this new blanket scheme for naming their content with attributes such as skin tone, color and hair texture”. This way, their content should be better noted by other platforms.

Early last year, Google announced an improvement in facial recognition methodologies, notably by abandoning the historical Fitzpatrick rating, which was created in 1975 and considered to be of little variety. The latter includes six skin tones, four of which are white and only two are dark.