text: James Martin/CNET 
   
   Google became one of the most powerful companies on Earth because it has developed some of the best algorithms in the world for organizing information. But a gaffe this week shows the shortcomings of technology, particularly when it doesn't work just quite right. 
   
   Jacky Alcine, a Web developer who is black, took to Twitter to say Google's Photo app, released in May, labeled a picture of him and a friend as "gorillas.' The label showed up in a feature that automatically categorizes photos, like cars or beaches, so they are more easily searchable. 
   
   "My friend's not a gorilla," Alcine tweeted. He didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. 
   
   The incident points to the problem tech companies face as computers get smarter and are expected to take on more more tasks a human normally would do. Those areas of computer science -- such as artificial intelligence or machine learning -- are some of the biggest engineering focuses in Silicon Valley. But with that focus comes another task that computers have not traditionally tackled: grappling with the challenge of sensitivity. 
   
   Screenshot by CNET 
   
   This isn't the first time algorithms have messed up in ways people have found offensive. When Yahoo overhauled its Flickr photo storage app in May, the company added similar features that automatically add tags to photos. The algorithm tagged a photo of a black man as an ape, and concentration camp photos got tags like "jungle gym" and "sport." 
   
   After Google learned of the incident with Alcine's photo, the company apologized immediately tried to fix it. 
   
   "Lots of work being done, and lots still to be done," Yonatan Zunger, chief architect of social at Google, tweeted. "We're very much on it." 
   
   In the mean time, Google apologized. 
   
   "We're appalled and genuinely sorry that this happened," a Google spokeswoman said "There is still clearly a lot of work to do with automatic image labeling, and we're looking at how we can prevent these types of mistakes from happening in the future." ||||| Tweet with a location 
   
   You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Image copyright Twitter Image caption Mr Alcine tweeted Google about the fact its app had misclassified his photo 
   
   Google says it is "appalled" that its new Photos app mistakenly labelled a black couple as being "gorillas". 
   
   Its product automatically tags uploaded pictures using its own artificial intelligence software. 
   
   The error was brought to its attention by a New York-based software developer who was one of the people pictured in the photos involved. 
   
   Google was later criticised on social media because of the label's racist connotations. 
   
   "This is 100% not OK," acknowledged Google executive Yonatan Zunger after being contacted by Jacky Alcine via Twitter. 
   
   "[It was] high on my list of bugs you 'never' want to see happen." 
   
   Mr Zunger said Google had already taken steps to avoid others experiencing a similar mistake. 
   
   Image copyright Twitter Image caption Mr Alcine said the error had affected several photos in his collection 
   
   He added it was "also working on longer-term fixes around both linguistics - words to be careful about in photos of people - and image recognition itself - eg better recognition of dark-skinned faces". 
   
   This is not the first time Google Photos has mislabelled one species as another. 
   
   The news site iTech Post noted that the app was tagging pictures of dogs as horses in May. 
   
   Users are able to remove badly identified photo classifications within the app, which should help it improve its accuracy over time - a technology known as machine learning. 
   
   Image copyright Twitter Image caption Google has faced criticism since the error was made public 
   
   However, Google has acknowledged the sensitivity of the latest mistake. 
   
   "We're appalled and genuinely sorry that this happened," a spokeswoman told the BBC. 
   
   "We are taking immediate action to prevent this type of result from appearing. 
   
   "There is still clearly a lot of work to do with automatic image labelling, and we're looking at how we can prevent these types of mistakes from happening in the future." 
   
   But Mr Alcine told the BBC that he still had concerns. 
   
   "I do have a few questions, like what kind of images and people were used in their initial priming that led to results like these," he said. 
   
   "[Google has] mentioned a more intensified search into getting person of colour candidates through the door, but only time will tell if that'll happen and help correct the image Silicon Valley companies have with intersectional diversity - the act of unifying multiple fronts of disadvantaged people so that their voices are heard and not muted." ||||| Google has apologized after its new photo app labelled two black people as “gorillas”. 
   
   
   
   The photo service, launched in May, automatically tags uploaded pictures using its own artificial intelligence software. 
   
   “Google Photos, y’all fucked up. My friend’s not a gorilla,” Jacky Alciné tweeted on Sunday after a photo of him and a friend was mislabelled as “gorillas” by the app. 
   
   diri noir avec banan (@jackyalcine) Google Photos, y'all fucked up. My friend's not a gorilla. pic.twitter.com/SMkMCsNVX4 
   
   Shortly after, Alciné was contacted by Yonatan Zunger, the chief architect of social at Google. 
   
   
   
   “Big thanks for helping us fix this: it makes a real difference,” Zunger tweeted to Alciné. 
   
   He went on to say that problems in image recognition can be caused by obscured faces and “different contrast processing needed for different skin tones and lighting”. 
   
   “We used to have a problem with people (of all races) being tagged as dogs, for similar reasons,” he said. “We’re also working on longer-term fixes around both linguistics (words to be careful about in photos of people) and image recognition itself (e.g., better recognition of dark-skinned faces). Lots of work being done and lots still to be done, but we’re very much on it.” 
   
   Google says sorry over racist Google Maps White House search results Read more 
   
   Racist tags have also been a problem in Google Maps. Earlier this year, searches for “nigger house” globally and searches for “nigger king” in Washington DC turned up results for the White House, the residence of the US president, Barack Obama. Both at that time and earlier this week, Google apologized and said that it was working to fix the issue. 
   
   
   
   “We’re appalled and genuinely sorry that this happened,” a Google spokeswoman told the BBC on Wednesday. “We are taking immediate action to prevent this type of result from appearing. There is still clearly a lot of work to do with automatic image labelling, and we’re looking at how we can prevent these types of mistakes from happening in the future.” 
   
   Google is not the only platform trying to work out bugs in its automatic image labelling. 
   
   In May, Flickr’s auto-tagging system came under scrutiny after it labelled images of black people with tags such as “ape” and “animal”. The system also tagged pictures of concentration camps with “sport” or “jungle gym”. 
   
   “We are aware of issues with inaccurate auto-tags on Flickr and are working on a fix. While we are very proud of this advanced image-recognition technology, we’re the first to admit there will be mistakes and we are constantly working to improve the experience,” a Flickr spokesperson said at the time. 
   
   “If you delete an incorrect tag, our algorithm learns from that mistake and will perform better in the future. The tagging process is completely automated – no human will ever view your photos to tag them.”
target: – The automated photo-tagging on the Google Photos app introduced in May isn't perfect, Google admits. Sometimes it gives a photo a wrong or irrelevant tag—and, on at least one occasion, an extremely offensive one. The company had some groveling to do after the app labeled a photo of two black people as "gorillas," the Guardian reports. The man in the photo, software developer Jacky Alcine, complained to Google, where exec Yonatan Zunger told him the mistake was "100% not OK" and "high on my list of bugs you 'never' want to see happen," the BBC reports. He thanked him for helping Google fix the problem. "We're appalled and genuinely sorry that this happened," a Google spokeswoman tells the BBC. "We are taking immediate action to prevent this type of result from appearing. There is still clearly a lot of work to do with automatic image labeling, and we're looking at how we can prevent these types of mistakes from happening in the future." Algorithms caused similar problems at Flickr a few months ago, where some pictures of people, both black and white, were labeled "apes" or "animals," and a picture of the Dachau concentration camp was labeled "jungle gym," CNET notes. (Apple Watch gets confused by tattoos.)