Technologies

Facebook AI puts ‘primates’ label on video of Black men, in what firm calls ‘unacceptable’ error

The news comes as social networks grapple with racist content and critics attack automated systems over bias.

Facebook users who recently watched a video featuring Black men were served an automated prompt that asked if they’d like to «keep seeing videos about Primates,» a mistake the social network called «unacceptable» in statements to news outlets.

The video, posted last June by UK tabloid The Daily Mail, shows Black men in disputes with white police officers and civilians, The New York Times reported late Friday. Facebook apologized for the prompt and said it’s disabled the AI-powered feature and is investigating to ensure the problem doesn’t reoccur.

«As we have said, while we have made improvements to our A.I., we know it’s not perfect, and we have more progress to make. We apologize to anyone who may have seen these offensive recommendations,» Facebook said in a statement sent to media organizations.

The news comes as Facebook and other social media companies continue struggling to address concerns that they’re not adequately tackling racism on their sites. Earlier this year, Facebook, Twitter and others were criticized for failing to stop anti-Asian hate on their platforms amid the coronavirus pandemic. Sites were also censured in July for not shutting down racist abuse after England’s loss in the Euro Cup final.

The botched Facebook prompt is also another example of problems around AI and race. Facial recognition systems, including those used by law enforcement, are known to have trouble accurately identifying people of color, putting them at risk of being wrongly accused of crimes.

More broadly, the error underlines concern about whether bias is coded into the technologies that play key roles in our lives, such as algorithms used to screen applicants for home loans.

In July of last year, Facebook had said it was creating teams to examine potential racial bias in algorithms and products used by the social network and by Facebook-owned Instagram.

Other tech giants have grappled with gaffes by their automated systems. In 2015, Google apologized when an algorithm in its Photo app mistakenly labeled Black people «gorillas.»

Technologies

The FCC Just Approved Charter’s $34.5B Cox Purchase. Here’s What It Means for 37M Customers

Technologies

Spotify Expands Into Audiobook Rankings With Weekly Charts

The feature is available to both free users and Premium subscribers. Wuthering Heights is reaching the heights on both the US and UK charts.

If you’re a Spotify user, you may be familiar with features like the year-end summary Wrapped, as well as your daily usage stats. Now, the service has a new popularity chart tracking audiobooks.

Spotify’s audiobook charts are now available to free and Premium users within the service’s Audiobooks hub. While only Premium users receive 15 hours of audiobook listening per month, the company offers a larger selection of titles you can buy.

US charts and UK charts are both available now.

Read more: Best Music Streaming Services for 2026

Spotify says that the audiobook charts will help customers discover new and popular titles in real time.

«As we’ve proven with Music and Podcasts Charts, when content is easier to access, discover, and enjoy, the demand grows,» said Duncan Bruce, Spotify’s director of audiobook partnerships and licensing, in a statement on Friday.

Spotify launched audiobooks in 2022, and has since added features such as the AI catchup tool Recaps and PageMatch, which lets you swap more easily between a printed book and the audio version.

Spotify Premium currently costs $13 a month and includes more than 100 million songs, as well as audiobooks. Spotify Premium is currently CNET’s Editors’ Choice for best music streaming service.

The current US audiobooks chart lists Emily Brontë’s romantic classic Wuthering Heights as the top listen, followed by James Clear’s self-help book Atomic Habits and Freida McFadden’s psychological thriller The Housemaid. Audiobook popularity is also broken down by genre, with charts for romance, mystery and thriller books, self-help, science fiction and fantasy, biography and memoir, business and careers, teen and young adult, religion and spirituality, history, and parenting and relationships.

Powered by its blockbuster movie adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, Wuthering Heights also leads the overall chart for the UK.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 28, #523

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 523, for Saturday, Feb. 28.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. Chicagoans and southerners, you might have an advantage, at least with the blue and purple categories. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Fore!

Green group hint: Take me out to the ballgame.

Blue group hint: Alma mater.

Purple group hint: Bear down.