Image: Genderify
Some tech companies make a splash when they launch, others seem to bellyflop.
Genderify, a new service that promises to identify someone’s gender by analyzing their name, email address, or username with the help AI, looks firmly to be in the latter camp. The company launched on Product Hunt last week, but has picked up a lot of attention on social media recently as users discovered biases and inaccuracies in its algorithms.
Type the name “Meghan Smith” into Genderify, for example, and the service offers the assessment: “Male: 39.60%, Female: 60.40%.” Change that name to “Dr. Meghan Smith,” however, and the assessment changes to: “Male: 75.90%, Female: 24.10%.” Other names prefixed with “Dr” produce similar results, and other inputs seem…