Search Algorithms versus Asimov’s First Law of Robotics

Search Engine Land has a short article on bias versus brands.  The issue at hand is whether Google Instant has a brand bias.  Google says it does not:

Singhal explains that when someone types in T, mathematically “most people typing T will go to Target. That’s the probability model. If you add R to it (“Tr”), most people are looking for a translation system. It’s actually just pure mathematical modeling.” It is just math, he says, not a bias.

Oh come on, now!  What kind of explanation is that?  There is no such thing as “just math”.  There is always a conscious decision to use math in a particular way.

Let’s take as an example the classic information retrieval ranking function: tf * idf.   Continue reading…