Technology giant Microsoft has been accused of censoring terms such as 'maternity leave' because they are not inclusive enough.
The tool, which can suggest alternatives to improve writing such as synonyms and grammatic corrections, now appears to have expanded to detecting when a user's language is 'not inclusive'.
When typing 'maternity leave', users are now instead told to use 'birth-related leave', 'parental leave' or 'childbirth leave'.
And when referring to paternity leave - the time off taken by a father - it suggests 'child-bonding leave' as an alternative.
When users type 'maternity leave', they are greeted with a message that says: 'Inclusiveness. This term may not be inclusive of all genders'.
The prompts are only on an opt-in basis, meaning users can disable them if they do not want to see alternative options.
Taking to social media, some branded the suggestions as an 'absolute joke'.
The inclusivity tool, which is part of Microsoft's AI function, was launched in 2019 but has recently come under fire after a screenshot of its maternity suggestions was uploaded to social media.
The suggestions are available on all Microsoft software, which includes Word, Outlook and Powerpoint.
Toby Young, the director of the Free Speech Union, told the Telegraph: 'This is a particularly insidious form of language policing, reminiscent of 1984. It's as though there's a censor in your computer scolding you for departing from politically correct orthodoxy.'
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Libre Office does everything MS Office does for 99% of the people and it's free to use. All the basic functionality MS Office provides that most people use was present back in 1999 and every release after that has just been rearranging the icons and menus and color choices to confuse the users.
In fact most users never use more than a tenth of the features because they aren't needed for the simple stuff.
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