Google has been the centre of many questionable and sometimes unconventional findings. A few years ago, it used to associate a boy with the adjectives ‘strong’, ‘brave’, and ‘courageous’. But for a girl, it used inappropriate words like ‘curvy’ and ‘voluptuous’. Though the mistake had been rectified, the search engine continues to make blunders, and a ‘Monkey holding a Box’ is one of them. This search is problematic in terms of representation and is tied to racism and discrimination; a stain the world is unable to get rid of.
A. Origin:
In August 2022, netizens noticed something unusual when searching for images of a ‘monkey carrying a box’. Instead of showing the literal visualisation of the sentence, it instead displayed the pictures of an African boy holding a box. The association of a monkey with a dark-skinned child associated during the colonisation by European powers is baffling, as the search engine showed such results so recently. The incident went viral on many social platforms, with users sharing screenshots of the findings. #MonkeyHoldingaBox trended on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, where users expressed their amusement and concern.
B. Historical terrors:
It is common knowledge that colonisation had an impact on many countries, like major parts of Africa, India, and other countries. The stigma of slavery and its consequences exist even today— in a supposedly modern and developed society. It shows how disturbing and wrong AI can be and the impact it can have on diversity and the human condition.
C. Reasons for the mistake:
Artificial Intelligence and search engines have no intelligence of their own, but have to access the programmed database to show output. Many factors could be the reason behind this mistake, and some of them could be:
- The search term “Monkey holding a Box” may have been associated with the wrong meaning due to the previous searches of the user.
- Someone could have uploaded the image of a child holding a box, and it somehow ended up as a result for a ‘monkey carrying a box’, due to improper tags.
- The algorithm of the search engine could’ve faced a glitch or used an incomplete database.
- The same results are being displayed repeatedly due to the popularity of the issue.
- As Google itself is silent about the controversy, information about its origin and reason is hidden and remains to be speculated
D. Impact on society:
a. Racism:
The Monkey Carrying a Box may seem like a jest, but the underlying implications reveal something much sinister. It shows the attitude towards people of different skin tones, races, and ethnicities, and events like this only divide the world further. Technology, something that is supposed to bring people together, cannot be the reason to create a rift. After conducting a global survey, the PEW Research Centre reveals that in 2025, a median of 34% of adults consider racial discrimination a major problem. Another 34% view it as a moderate problem. In another survey held by the World Justice Project in 2022, it is said that 70% of the selected 140 countries saw an increase in hateful racism between 2021 and 2023. It is also a common occurrence in workplaces, schools, and public transportation.
b. Violence and physical harm:
Such a mindset, which consists of stereotypes, can lead to disaster, especially when it belongs to people in positions of power. The global population was outraged at such an incident, and it sparked debates about bias and ethics, to the point of being discussed extensively, even today. A Monkey carrying a Box, a combination of words, has more weight than oceans and mountains in terms of how it reflects society.
E. Similar Incidents:
a. Gorilla incident (2015):
Another familiar controversy that is related to the Monkey holding a Box is when Google image software associated gorillas with dark skinned individuals. The incident caused outrage and provoked complaints from netizens, and Google had to come out and apologise for the issue. They also updated their auto-tagging system.
b. Primates Video Label (2021):
Facebook, a platform known for having an enormous user base, made a huge gaffe through its AI-generated questions. A video featuring ‘black men’ was followed up by the software questioning, “Would you like to keep seeing videos about primates?” The backlash was so severe that Facebook had to apologise publicly and disable the feature, which remains in that condition even now.
c. Apple ID and Asians:
Apple is one of the most popular phone brands in the world, prominently known for its aesthetic layout, superb camera quality, and security. The company, known for not making errors and striving for perfection, was criticised by its users belonging to the Asian community. Many of them reported that the face ID was unable to recognise faces, due to its limited database on diversity. Such inclusion is inconvenient for users and a hindrance to smooth usage.
d. Amazon AI Hiring Tool:
In 2018, Amazon launched an AI hiring tool to select the besta mong resumes but it was quickly exposed as gender bias. It was proved to have eliminated portfolios with phrases associated with women. Gender discrimination is also another problematic issue that persists in modern society, and incidents like this help it continue. After that, Amazon removed that program for good.
F. Who is the reason behind this?
Many organisations make programs that lead to such results, and they apologise. But why do such things happen over and over again? It could be due to what the AI learns from its content library. It sees how people treated each other in the past, the words they used, and the stereotypes they believed to learn and replicate the message. This is not just an issue regarding a single country, but the world. The Monkey holding a Box is not just a few words, but is related to an entire system of interlinked issues, and solving one requires solving another first.
G. How to improve global unity:
The world, when together, can create miracles or ultimate destruction. In unison, with friendship and understanding between the diverse groups of people, can lead to a positive picture. People oftem forget that all of us are called Homo Sapiens, that we fall under one category in the classification of lives according to biologists. No one has the power to dictate their appearance before they are born, and the difference is not supposed to be taken as a flaw but as a unique element. Google remains quiet about the ‘Monkey carrying a Box’, and it makes everyone wonder who is to blame. The answer is perspective. It is the human perspective that visualises people and things as the same or different; a result of generational prejudice, related incidents, or error in the education system. Why do movies in India portray white-skinned women as ‘beautiful’ and ‘fair’, while women with a little more pigmentation are known as ‘hideous’? Such incidents will never stop until people have the thought of changing their perception.
H. Silver lining of the cloud:
In modern times, the entertainment and animation industries are doing a better job as cultural representation and inclusion, and due to their impact, the generations moving forward could have hope of getting rid of racial discrimination and stereotypes.
I. Impact of AI and its relation to this issue:
As the days go by, Artificial Intelligence is becoming more dominant in human life. Students use it for queries, programmers use it for coding guidance, teachers use it for crafting PDFS and question papers, and companies use it for improving their businesses. In the future, it will even play a more significant role in society’s development, and people who can operate AI tools will be in more demand in the workforce. But one has to remember that it is like a kite, and its string is operated by the person holding it. One cannot rely on AI in a complete sense but must utilise it wisely. Such applications only grow stronger the more we give them power. The AI only made the blunders listed above because of what it saw in its database. If it were a person, we could blame them and link it to many factors. Ultimately, AI is only a creation of mankind, but it has no right to ‘create’ and ‘define’ mankind.
To conclude, the Monkey carrying a Box could sound harmless, but it’s a continuation of an issue that has roots centuries ago. It gives us an insight into what power AI tools and applications could have and how cautious organisations must be to avoid catastrophes. Fortunately, modern-day entertainment and official entities have diverse representation in their medium and appointments. Such incidents might not stop anytime soon due to the increase in racial segregation and prejudice. People must stop defining others according to their religion, nationality, gender, colour, and ethnicity, so that Artificial Intelligence would stop doing the same. The distinct element of humanity is its expressive sympathy, and hence, it should be dealt with collectively, not by just a few communities or nations.
Also read: Unraveling the OpenAI Turmoil: A Week of Chaos and Controversy
