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If the world is currently looking at Germany, it is also down to a couple of researchers. Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin are developing a coronavirus vaccine with their Mainz company Biontech and the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. The couple were able to report their first successes on Monday: Interim results from a major phase of study showed their vaccine offered 90 percent protection against Covid-19, he said.
In the media, Biontech was hailed by the promising news. Attention was often focused mainly on Uğur Şahin. The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” was happy with the “inventor of the vaccine”, the television station n-tv was enthusiastic about the “humble visionary”, the newspaper “Bild” even believed to have found the “father of the miracle of the vaccine German “. to have. Anyone looking for the “mother of miracles” had to search for her in text messages or Google her name.
Wife via search engine
However, a similar image emerged there. In the information box, the so-called “Knowledge Dashboard”, which Google automatically generates for certain search queries, Türeci was last listed as “Uğur Şahin’s wife”. Unlike her husband, who is correctly referred to as “CEO, BioNTech”.
Özlem Türeci is a renowned cancer researcher with twenty years of professional experience. The daughter of a Turkish doctor heads Biontech’s clinical development department, is chair of a senior research group at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and chair of CIMT, the largest European association for cancer immunotherapy.
This discrepancy sparked criticism on social media. Google spokesperson Kay Oberbeck responded on Twitter with a short announcement: “It’s our turn, thanks for the tip.” On Tuesday afternoon, Türeci’s abbreviation was changed to wife in the short summary of the Google biography.
For the group, degradation is one of the many “inaccuracies” that can occur within the information boxes. “Just as we have automated systems that collect data for the knowledge panel, we also have systems that supposedly prevent inaccuracies from occurring,” wrote a spokeswoman. “However, these systems are not always perfect.”
Discrepancy also in the search mask
Even with a preview in the search field, Türeci was shown as “Uğur Şahin’s wife”. In Şahin, his job as head of Biontech is mentioned there. His achievements are rightly highlighted. He is also the son of Turkish immigrants, has been teaching at the University of Mainz for almost 15 years, and is one of the most renowned cancer researchers in the world. But that also applies to your partner.
In fact, Özlem Türeci is not the only woman who was defined first and foremost by Google’s algorithms on her men. Former US presidential candidate and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton describes the German Google search as “former US first lady,” as does diplomat and women’s rights activist Eleanor Roosevelt.
How sexist are the algorithms?
The information boxes, compiled by Google, are not editorial contributions. They appear automatically when users search for people, places, organizations or things that are registered in the company’s own “Knowledge Graph”. This is how the search engine company describes its accumulated knowledge, a kind of database in which information is linked, cataloged and extracted at the right time.
The resulting knowledge panels are generated from various sources. Depending on the company, these can be data partners, for example for music and company figures, or “open web sources”, for example media or Wikipedia. However, Google can intervene if the algorithms make mistakes. According to the company, celebrities or other public figures even have “opportunities for direct influence.” You can write your information boxes yourself if necessary.
Does the German Google search just have one problem?
However, that doesn’t explain why the German algorithms apparently perform worse than their international counterparts. If you want to know something about Özlem Türeci in the American Google search, you will be featured in the knowledge panel as a “medical research scientist”, as well as in the French and Spanish Google search. It’s just a “Wife of” in the preview in the search field.
One of the reasons for the international differences could be the excess of information in the German media. If Türeci was written about in this country, her husband often featured prominently. In the American press, however, less was written about Biontech, here Google has to rely more on Wikipedia and similar sources. There, the relationship with Uğur Şahin only appears in the last sentence. In other words: German knowledge panels are only as sexist as the media from which they are built.
