The usefulness (and, at times, unintended hilarity or abhorrence) of Google's autocomplete function is nothing new. The screenshots, listicles and articles dedicated to exposing humanity's curiosity, bias and, alas, stupidity have circulated the interwebs since the "Search Suggestion" feature was launched in 2008. As you type a query, topic or name into the the search bar, you are served search predictions, which the company describes as "related to the terms you’re typing and what other people are searching for."
The explanation continues (emphasis ours):
How search predictions are made
Search predictions are generated by an algorithm without human involvement. The algorithm is:• Based on objective factors, including how often others have searched for a word.
• Designed to reflect the range of info on the web. Because of this range, the search terms you see might sometimes seem strange or surprising.
