Chinese messaging app error sees n-word used in translation

WeChat is blaming machine learning for erroneously converting a neutral phrase meaning 'black foreigner' into something far more offensive

Chinese messaging app WeChat has reportedly apologised after an AI error resulted in it translating a neutral Chinese phrase into the n-word.

The WeChat error was reported by Shanghai-based theatre producer and actor Ann James, a black American. In a post on the service's Twitter-like Moments feature, she wrote that it had translated hei laowai - a neutral phrase which literally means "black foreigner" - as the n-word.