{Dirk Hovy Federico Bianchi Debora Nozza}

Abstract

Language models have revolutionized the field of NLP. However, language models capture and proliferate hurtful stereotypes, especially in text generation. Our results show that 4.3{%} of the time, language models complete a sentence with a hurtful word. These cases are not random, but follow language and gender-specific patterns. We propose a score to measure hurtful sentence completions in language models (HONEST). It uses a systematic template- and lexicon-based bias evaluation methodology for six languages. Our findings suggest that these models replicate and amplify deep-seated societal stereotypes about gender roles. Sentence completions refer to sexual promiscuity when the target is female in 9{%} of the time, and in 4{%} to homosexuality when the target is male. The results raise questions about the use of these models in production settings.