A new version of Microsoft Word will take document checking to another level. It will check your writing for political correctness and mak...
A new version of Microsoft Word will take document checking to another level. It will check your writing for political correctness and make suggestions that are more sensitive toward your readers.
The artificial intelligence-driven program dubbed, "Ideas in Word," is aimed at helping writers, well, write better, Fast Company reported.
Microsoft has not described the program as a political correctness tool, according to the report.
How does it work?
Similar to the program's current grammar and spellcheck suggestions, Ideas in Word will underline words that appear insensitive in nature.
For example, if a person writes, "We need to get some fresh blood in here," the program would probably suggest changing the wording to something like, "We need to get some new employees," Fast Company said.
Words that refer to genders such as "spokeswoman," "waitress," or "mailman," would likely trigger suggestions including, "spokesperson," "waitperson" or "mailperson," respectively.
Similarly, if you call someone a "disabled person" in your writing, the software would prompt you to change the wording to "someone with a disability."
It will flag phrases that could be considered offensive in other countries or cultures, according to Fast Company. And it will assist writers with clarity and conciseness.
Microsoft worked with a team of language experts to come up with commonly used poor wording choices and develop a list of terms that could be used instead, Office Intelligence product manager Malavika Rewari told the magazine.
When will it be available?
Office 365 customers can expect to see it in June, ahead of a general release later this year.
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