On the Ethical Considerations of Text Simplification (2022)

Abstract: This paper outlines the ethical implications of text simplification within the framework of assistive systems. We argue that a distinction should be made between the technologies that perform text simplification and the realisation of these in assistive technologies. When using the latter as a motivation for research, it is important that the subsequent ethical implications be carefully considered. We provide guidelines for the framing of text simplification independently of assistive systems, as well as suggesting directions for future research and discussion based on the concerns raised.

## introduction assistive technology refers to the devices used to support or aid those living with disabilities @xcite . the intent behind such technologies is to increase independence and maximise societal participation for individuals @xcite . there are many examples of assistive technology that rely on speech and natural language processing. for instance, sign language translation @xcite , pronunciation adaptation for disordered speech @xcite and synthesised voices for individuals with vocal disabilities @xcite . text simplification is an area of natural language processing concerned with the simplification of textual information and is often recognised as having assistive applications. prior research in text simplification posits that such technology may be beneficial for audiences with reading difficulties or a range of disabilities such as dyslexia, aphasia or deafness. however, currently the algorithms designed for text simplification are considered in isolation from their assistive applications, and there is subsequently little discussion on the ethical implications for the intended users. text simplification research is often motivated by highlighting the audiences there are many potential benefits of text simplification embedded in assistive technology, and both for service providers and service users, there are also a number of ethical issues that must be considered. in this paper, we will discuss the ethical considerations that arise from the embedding of text simplification within assistive technologies. our aim is to encourage the discussion and consideration of these issues, as well as inform the design decisions of future assistive technologies that incorporate text simplification. ## background complete textual simplification requires many types of transformations which can be grouped into three categories: syntactic, lexical and conceptual @xcite . lexical simplification is concerned with reducing the complexity of words within a text @xcite . in lexical simplification, complex words are identified and replaced with simpler alternatives. we observe an example of lexical simplification with the case of celebrities being simplified to stars. syntactic simplification aims to reduce the grammatical complexity of text by simplifying the syntactical structures. examples of such transformations include the conversion of text from passive to active voice and dis-embedding relative clauses @xcite . in our example, multiple syntactic simplifications have taken place. one such simplification occurs where the subordinated clause '...undermining a long tradition' has been split into a separate sentence. syntactic simplification often requires discourse preserving edits to maintain the coherence and cohesion of simplified text. for instance, the addition of 'they say...' is necessary to convert the original relative clause into a grammatically correct and coherent sentence. finally, conceptual simplification focuses on the simplification of ideas or concepts within text. the example shows how the concept of philatelist has been simplified by providing an explanation of the term. this simplification technique is commonly referred to as elaboration, as the meaning of the concept has been elaborated on @xcite . often, this strategy is used in cases where no alternative synonym would suffice, for instance with named entities. both syntactic and conceptual simplification contain parallels with the research area of text summarization as omitting peripheral or inappropriate information, as well as distilling complex concepts, is relevant for both. however, in simplification these processes can increase the length of the original text, whereas in summarization the goal is to constrain the length of the resulting summary. in automatic text simplification, the aim is to transform text using the aforementioned operations, to allow individuals with differing comprehension levels access. this requires a fundamental understanding of what factors contribute to text complexity for differing audiences @xcite . early approaches to automated simplification were largely rule-based systems @xcite @xcite , with many prioritising syntactic operations, such as sentence splitting, deletion or reordering. however, some work combined lexical simplification with syntactic operations @xcite @xcite . in recent years simplification has been viewed as a monolingual translation task @xcite @xcite . these systems perform a number of simplification operations at once by aiming to translate complex english to simple english. initial approaches attempt this with phrase-based machine translation (coster and @xcite while subsequent work has focused on neural machine translation techniques @xcite @xcite . ## risks and harms in this section we outline and discuss the potential risks and harms that arise from the integration of text simplification within assistive technology. ## going forward we suggest that papers focusing on general purpose text simplification should de-couple the motivations from specific audiences with disabilities. an example of a general purpose motivation by @xcite is as follows: automated text simplification (ats) systems are meant to transform original texts into different (simpler) variants which would be understood by wider audiences and more successfully processed by various nlp tools. alternatively, if discussing the different groups of users who may benefit from text simplification, being clear about the specific strategies that work for these audiences is critical. additionally, it is worth acknowledging that when framing a system using a target demographic, it is appropriate that the system is tested with that target group. for human evaluation generally, it is highly beneficial to report the demographic statistics, as this allows an insight into which types of audiences the system may work well for. finally, it is important to be forthright about the current limitations of both the data and evaluation techniques used in automatic text simplification. whilst great improvements are being made in this area, these systems are still far from perfect and this needs to be taken into account when judging the suitability of systems for assistive technology. ## conclusion assistive technologies can dramatically affect the lives of those who rely on them, and it is important to understand the potential ethical concerns -especially as such technologies can impact vulnerable populations. in this paper, we discuss a set of potential issues that arise from the embedding of text simplification within assistive technologies. our aim in this work is to encourage further discussion on how the design decisions of text simplification algorithms can have the potential to impact future users of assistive technology.