Google apologises for Baftas alert to 'see more' on racial slur

Source: BBC Technology

Google has apologised for sending a news alert about this year’s BAFTA awards ceremony that included a “see more” suggestion containing a racial slur.

Incident overview

The alert linked to a story on the fallout from the ceremony, where a member of the audience with Tourette’s syndrome used the slur in an involuntary tic when actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo took the stage. Google’s push‑notification system mistakenly used the slur in its “see more” suggestion.

Google’s response

A Google spokesperson told the BBC:

“We’re deeply sorry for this mistake. We’ve removed the offensive notification and are working to prevent this from happening again.”

The company clarified that the incident was not caused by generative AI. Instead, a failure in the safety features for push notifications allowed the slur—detected in various online content—to be used in the alert’s text. Google said the offending notification was seen by only a small number of users and was removed quickly. Work is underway to improve safety triggers and guardrails to stop similar language from appearing in future alerts.

Public reaction

The incident was first highlighted on Instagram by creator Danny Price, who expressed outrage and wrote, “What an interesting Black History month this has turned out to be.” The post sparked discussion on social media about the use of AI and safety mechanisms in content delivery.

Related apologies

Racist language was also removed from the BAFTA ceremony itself, and the awards’ leadership, as well as the BBC that aired the event, have issued apologies. See the BBC’s statement here.