Key Takeaways
- Google Books is indexing low-quality books, which could impact its language tracking tool, Ngram.
- 404Media reports that Google Books included books that appeared to be written by AI, rather than by humans.
- Works about AI were found among the results, alongside books that seemed to be written by a bot and contained outdated information.
- Ngram, Google's research tool, relies on data from Google Books to track language evolution, but recent low-quality works may not be reflected in Ngram results.
- Despite Google's statement that recent works on Google Books do not show up on Ngram results, it's possible that they might impact future data updates.
News Content
Google Books, a crucial resource for academics, has sparked concerns by starting to index low-quality books, potentially affecting its language tracking tool, Ngram. 404Media's investigation revealed that Google Books included books that seemed to have been written by AI, with some works lacking coherent discussions about technology. One example was Tristin McIver’s Bears, Bulls, and Wolves: Stock Trading for the Twenty-Year-Old, which appeared to have extracted information from Wikipedia and contained phrases commonly used by chatbots. These findings raise questions about the reliability and accuracy of the data used by Google's Ngram viewer, a tool that analyzes changes in language usage over time. Despite Google's assurance that recent works do not impact Ngram results, the possibility of their inclusion in future data updates remains a concern for linguists and researchers relying on this tool.
The discovery that Google Books has begun indexing low-quality books, potentially authored by AI, has raised concerns about the integrity of its Ngram language tracking tool. The investigation by 404Media revealed books that appeared to lack human authorship, with content resembling information trawled from Wikipedia and incorporating phrases commonly used by chatbots. This development poses implications for the data accuracy and reliability of the Ngram viewer, which is widely used by linguists and other academics to track language evolution over time. Although Google has stated that recent works on Google Books do not currently impact Ngram results, the potential inclusion of such material in future updates has prompted valid concerns within the research community.
Google Books' decision to index low-quality books, potentially written by AI, has raised issues around the accuracy and reliability of its language tracking tool, Ngram. The discovery that some books, such as Tristin McIver’s Bears, Bulls, and Wolves: Stock Trading for the Twenty-Year-Old, seem to have been influenced by chatbots and lack coherent discussions about technology, has led to questions about the credibility of the data used by Ngram. Despite Google's assurance that recent works do not currently impact Ngram results, the potential future inclusion of such content raises valid concerns for researchers and linguists using this tool for language evolution analysis.
Analysis
The inclusion of low-quality, potentially AI-authored books in Google Books raises concerns about the integrity of its Ngram language tracking tool. The potential impact on Ngram's data accuracy and reliability could hinder linguists and researchers in tracking language evolution. Short-term consequences may lead to increased skepticism and caution in relying on Ngram results. In the long term, if not addressed, this could undermine the tool's value and trust among academics. Additionally, future updates may be met with heightened scrutiny. Google's response and actions in filtering such content and enhancing the tool's integrity will likely shape its future adoption and utility in academic research.
Do You Know?
-
Google Books: An online service by Google that allows users to search the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition (OCR), and stored in its digital database.
-
Ngram Viewer: A tool developed by Google that analyzes changes in language usage over time by plotting the frequency of words or phrases in a large corpus of books.
-
AI-Authored Books: Books that are potentially written by artificial intelligence (AI) as opposed to human authors, raising questions about the quality and authenticity of the content.