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Comment by Eduard | Hacker News Reader

seems like as if Gemini was trained excessively on Google PR and marketing material.

Case in point: https://store.google.com/

Recently they have been better, but since I noticed this a number of years ago, google is extremely adverse to putting white people and especially white males in their marketing - unless it is a snippet with someone internal. Then it's pretty often a white male.

To be clear, I don't think that this would even be that bad. But when you look at the demographics of people who use pixel phones, it's like google is using grandpas in the marketing material for graphics cards.

Not a great link for an international audience. Here in Germany, the top image is a white person: https://i.imgur.com/wqfdJ95.png

I'm not even seeing any people on my version. Just devices. Wonder why

I'm suspicious that some of the people who love to be outraged gave it some instructions to do that prior to asking for the pictures.

First of all, are you sure? I identify that person as Asian.

Secondly: In Austria, I am sent to https://store.google.com/?pli=1&hl=de and just see a phone, which is probably the safest solution.

That's an Asian person

Interesting, even on a second look I'm not able to tell that.

That’s a Scandinavian person

As a Scandinavian person, I at least do not think it is a typical Scandinavian person in Scandinavia. The first thing I think is German, or an artist.

I cannot point to anything specific though so it might just be the styling which makes her look like an artist or something.

I’m in the UK and there’s predominantly white people showing on the page.

That’s because almost all of this is a distinctly American obsession and problem. Unfortunately it’s gleefully been exported worldwide into contexts where it doesn’t immediately — if at all — apply over the last five years or so and now we’re all saddled with this slow-growing infection.

Entire careers are built on the sort of thing that led Google to this place, and they’re not gonna give up easily.

While I mostly agree with you, I just want to point out that the UK, Canada and Australia have this illness as well.

What was an American problem has become an Anglophone problem.

The Anglosphere/commonwealth move as one under the heel of the U.S. There's no point speaking of them as independent entities that "happen to agree"

> Anglosphere/commonwealth

India, Nigeria and Guayana move as one?

The politically relevant parts of the anglosphere*

So, Canada and Australia are somehow more politically relevant than India?

> What was an American problem has become an Anglophone problem.

Memetic virulence.

But maybe it is also puncturaing through the language and cultural membranes, as evidenced by things like this material from a Dutch university: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/about-um/diversity-inclu...

Nah, it's not just the US. Ever heard of the BBC? They are from Britain.

You’ve missed my point. I’m complaining that it started in the US (where it makes comparative, though still very little, sense) and has spread to places it doesn’t belong.

I certainly have my own thoughts about the recent output and hiring choices of the BBC.

I thought BBC was more of an American obsession?

Same but I'm in the US.

Eek @ that page. This is the "latinx" situation all over again.

"Damos as boas vindas" ("(we) bid you welcome"), while syntactically correct, sounds weird to portuguese speakers. The language has masculine and feminine words (often with -o and -a endings). For example, you say "bem vindo" to a male (be it an adult or a kid), "bem vinda" to a female (likewise). When you address a collective, the male version is generally used. "Bem vindo(a)"implies a wish on the part of the one who welcomes, implied in a hidden verb "(seja) bem vindo(a)" ("be"/"have a" welcome).

- "Bem vindos à loja do google" (lit. "welcome to the google store"). This sounds fine.

- "Damos as boas vindas à loja do google" (lit. "(we) bid/wish you (a) welcome to the google store") sounds alien and artificial.

Interesting, in Italian it's a bit formal but perfectly acceptable ("vi diamo il benvenuto..."). It's something you might hear at the beginning of a theatre play, or perhaps in the audio guide of a museum.

To be faaair, it is not wrong per se, it's just something you would never hear coming from an actual person who is addressing you.

A shoopkeeper _might_ say "bem vindo" ("welcome"), even though that would be hella corny (we usually open with "hello/good morning/evening/whatever"). They would never say "lhe dou as boas vindas" (singular form of "(lhe) dou(damos) as boas vindas").

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king of the Pixel splash page.

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