| Recurring |
one_organization, multiple_organization |
(a) The software failure incident of the automatic speech transcription system inserting explicit language into children's videos has happened again at YouTube. The incident was reported to have occurred with the ASR system used by YouTube to automatically add captions to clips [124433].
(b) The software failure incident of inappropriate content hallucinations through automatic speech transcription has also been found to occur on other platforms that use AI-generated captions, not just limited to YouTube. These 'inappropriate hallucinations' were reported to be present across all automated transcription services, including transcribing phone calls or Zoom meetings for automated minutes [124433]. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design, operation |
(a) The software failure incident related to the design phase can be seen in the article where the artificial intelligence algorithm used by YouTube for automatic speech transcription (ASR) was found to be inserting explicit language into children's videos. The system was mishearing words like "corn" as "porn," "beach" as "bitch," and "brave" as "rape" due to inaccuracies in the transcription process [Article 124433].
(b) The software failure incident related to the operation phase is evident in the same article where it was highlighted that children under 13 should be using YouTube Kids, where automated captions are turned off to avoid inappropriate content hallucinations. However, many parents still put children in front of the main version of YouTube, where the automatic transcription with potential errors is used, leading to the exposure of children to inappropriate language in captions [Article 124433]. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system |
(a) The software failure incident related to the inappropriate content hallucinations in YouTube's automatic speech transcription system can be categorized as within_system. The failure occurred within the system itself, specifically within the artificial intelligence algorithm used for automatic speech transcription. The algorithm was found to be mistakenly transcribing words, leading to the insertion of explicit language into children's videos [124433]. The issue stemmed from the way the system processed and interpreted audio input, resulting in inappropriate content being added to captions without human intervention. The incident highlights the need for improvements in the language models used by the system to prevent such failures in the future. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions, human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident in the articles is primarily related to non-human_actions. The incident occurred due to the automatic speech recognition (ASR) system, which is an artificial intelligence algorithm used by YouTube to automatically add captions to videos. The ASR system was found to be inserting explicit and inappropriate language into children's videos without human intervention. This included words like "corn" being transcribed as "porn," "beach" as "bitch," and "brave" as "rape" [124433].
The inappropriate content hallucinations, where the AI automatically added rude words during transcription, were identified as a phenomenon caused by the ASR system mishearing words in the audio and producing text content highly inappropriate for kids with high confidence. The study highlighted that such hallucinations are not occasional and are often produced by ASR systems without human involvement [124433].
(b) While the incident itself was primarily due to non-human_actions, human_actions also played a role in the context of addressing the issue. For example, the team from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and others conducted a study to sample videos and analyze the inappropriate content generated by the ASR system. They suggested that better quality language models showing a wider variety of pronunciations could improve the automatic transcription process. Additionally, YouTube spokesperson Jessica Gibby mentioned that children under 13 should be using YouTube Kids, where automated captions are turned off, indicating a human action to mitigate the impact of the software failure on children [124433]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
software |
(a) The software failure incident related to hardware:
- The incident reported in the article does not mention any hardware-related failures. It primarily focuses on the automatic speech transcription system (ASR) used by YouTube, which is a software-based system. Therefore, there is no information provided in the articles about hardware contributing factors to the failure incident.
(b) The software failure incident related to software:
- The software failure incident reported in the articles is specifically related to the automatic speech transcription (ASR) system used by YouTube to add captions to videos. The failure occurred due to the ASR system mistakenly transcribing words incorrectly, leading to inappropriate and explicit language being added to children's videos [124433]. This failure originated in the software itself, as the ASR system misinterpreted speech and generated inaccurate captions, causing the insertion of inappropriate words into the videos. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
non-malicious |
(a) The software failure incident related to the YouTube ASR system inserting explicit language into children's videos is categorized as non-malicious. The incident was not intentional but rather a result of the ASR system mishearing words and producing inappropriate captions. The team from Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and others conducted a study to analyze the phenomenon of 'inappropriate content hallucination' where AI automatically adds rude words when transcribing audio, leading to highly inappropriate words appearing in captions [124433].
(b) The incident was not a result of malicious intent but rather a flaw in the ASR system's functionality, causing it to misinterpret words and generate inappropriate captions. The team behind the study suggested that the issue could be addressed by improving the quality of language models to provide a wider range of pronunciations for common words, thereby enhancing the accuracy of automatic transcription [124433]. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
accidental_decisions |
(a) The intent of the software failure incident was not due to poor decisions but rather accidental decisions. The incident of the artificial intelligence algorithm used by YouTube to automatically add captions to children's videos inserting explicit language was accidental. The system, known as ASR (Automatic Speech Transcription), was found displaying inappropriate words due to mishearing audio, especially with accents or children speaking unclearly. The team behind the study mentioned that the inappropriate content hallucinations were not intentional but rather a result of the ASR systems misinterpreting the audio [124433]. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
development_incompetence, accidental |
(a) The software failure incident occurring due to development incompetence:
- The incident of the YouTube ASR system inserting explicit language into children's videos can be attributed to a failure in the development process. The system was found displaying inappropriate words like "corn" as "porn," "beach" as "bitch," and "brave" as "rape" due to misinterpretations by the AI algorithm [124433].
(b) The software failure incident occurring accidentally:
- The incident of the YouTube ASR system inserting explicit language into children's videos can also be categorized as an accidental failure. The inappropriate content hallucinations, where rude words were automatically added during transcription, were not intentional but occurred as a result of mishearing audio inputs by the AI system [124433]. |
| Duration |
temporary |
(a) The software failure incident in the article seems to be more of a temporary nature. The issue with the artificial intelligence algorithm used by YouTube to automatically add captions to videos, resulting in inappropriate language being inserted, is a specific problem caused by the ASR system mishearing words and producing inaccurate transcriptions. The incident is not described as a permanent failure but rather a problem that can be addressed and improved upon with better quality language models and wider variety of pronunciations [Article 124433]. |
| Behaviour |
omission, value, other |
(a) crash: The software failure incident in the articles does not specifically mention a crash where the system loses state and does not perform any of its intended functions.
(b) omission: The incident involves the software omitting to perform its intended functions correctly by automatically inserting explicit language into children's videos during the transcription process. This omission leads to inappropriate words being displayed in captions, such as "corn" being transcribed as "porn" and "beach" as "bitch" ([124433]).
(c) timing: The failure is not related to timing issues where the system performs its intended functions too late or too early.
(d) value: The software failure incident falls under the category of performing its intended functions incorrectly. The automatic transcription system misinterprets speech, leading to inappropriate words being added to captions, such as "brave" being transcribed as "rape" and "craft" as "crap" ([124433]).
(e) byzantine: The incident does not exhibit behaviors of a byzantine failure where the system behaves erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions.
(f) other: The other behavior exhibited in this software failure incident is the phenomenon of "inappropriate content hallucination," where the AI automatically adds rude words when transcribing audio, resulting in inappropriate content being introduced into the captions ([124433]). |