The Challenge of Synonyms
April 12, 2015
I am okay with automated text processing systems. The challenge is for software to keep pace with the words and phrases that questionable or bad actors use to communication. The marketing baloney cranked out by vendors suggests that synonyms are not a problem. I don’t agree. I think that words used to reference a subject can fool smart software and some humans as well. For an example of the challenge, navigate to “The Euphemisms People Use to Pay Their Drug Dealer in Public on Venmo.” The write up presents some of the synonyms for controlled substances; for example:
- Kale salad thanks
- Columbia in the 1980s
- Road trip groceries
- Sanity 2.0
- 10 lbs of sugar
The synonym I found interesting was an emoji, which most search and content processing systems cannot “understand.”
and
Attensity asserts that it can “understand” emojis. Sure, if there is a look up list hard wired to a meaning. What happens if the actor changes the emoji? Like other text processing systems, the smart software may become less adept than the marketers state.
But why rain on the hype parade and remind you that search is difficult? Moving on.
Stephen E Arnold, April 12, 2015
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