{"id":1731,"date":"2020-12-11T18:02:59","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T18:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1331164"},"modified":"2020-12-11T18:02:59","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T18:02:59","slug":"backlash-intensifies-pichais-promises-do-little-to-quell-outrage-over-timnit-gebrus-firing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=1731","title":{"rendered":"Backlash intensifies: Pichai\u2019s promises do little to quell outrage over Timnit Gebru\u2019s firing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The firing of an AI researcher wouldn\u2019t normally get a response from one of the world\u2019s most powerful CEOs or coverage from mainstream media. But Timnit Gebru\u2019s sudden departure from Google has turned simmering discontent about diversity and ethics at the company into an eruption.<\/p>\n

Gebru, who was co-leader of Google\u2019s Ethical AI team, is a widely-respected researcher on algorithmic bias, who\u2019s best known for a landmark study<\/a> that exposed race and gender biases in facial recognition systems.<\/p>\n

But a paper she recently co-authored on large large-scale language models (LLMs) \u2014 which are used in many Google products \u2014 sparked a dispute with her employer that culminated in her firing last week. Gebru tweeted<\/a> that she\u2019d been fired, while Google executives said she\u2019d resigned.<\/p>\n

Google CEO Sundar Pichai responded by pledging to investigate the circumstances that led to her exit and apologizing for its impact in a company-wide memo<\/a>. But his message has only added to the consternation.<\/p>\n

[Read: Why AI is the future of home security<\/a>]<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

I typically stay out of stuff like this, but I’m absolutely shocked by this email. It uses the worst form of corporate writing to present @timnitGebru<\/a> firing as something akin to a weather event \u2013 something that just happened. But real people did this, and they’re hiding.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jack Clark (@jackclarkSF) December 9, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Gebru criticized Pichai<\/a> for painting her \u201cas an \u2018angry Black woman\u2019 for whom you need \u2018de-escalation strategies\u2019,\u201d while others mocked his apology<\/a> as \u201chalf-baked\u201d and<\/a> \u201cthe corporate version of the \u2018I\u2019m sorry if you were offended by my actions\u2019 fauxpology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Pichai was also rebuked for his description of her departure.<\/p>\n

\n

“We need to accept responsibility for the fact that a prominent Black, female leader with immense talent left Google unhappily” << what a weird way to say “fired” https:\/\/t.co\/30pKwvlIes<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Mark O. Riedl (@mark_riedl) December 9, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Google AI head Jeff Dean said<\/a> the authors of the study were told the paper \u201cdidn\u2019t meet our bar for publication\u201d and given feedback on the reasons.<\/p>\n

He said Gebru responded by asking for a number of conditions to be met in order for her to remain at the company:<\/p>\n

\n

Timnit wrote that if we didn\u2019t meet these demands, she would leave Google and work on an end date. We accept and respect her decision to resign from Google.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Gebru acknowledged that she had asked for certain conditions<\/a> to be met before she withdrew her name from the paper. If they weren\u2019t, she would \u201cwork on a last date\u201d for her employment. However, she disputed the claims that she\u2019d resigned. She said that she\u2019d in fact been sacked over an email to colleagues<\/a> describing Google\u2018s reaction to her paper as \u201csilencing marginalized voices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margaret Mitchell, Gebru\u2019s co-lead on the Google Ethical AI Team, tweeted<\/a> that her team had started using the term \u201cresignated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Employer is broadcasting that @timnitGebru<\/a> put forward a binary approach that she would “resign” if they didn’t meet her demands.
She did not.
I realized I was on the email; I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW that was what they were talking about because she didn’t even mention resignation.<\/p>\n

\u2014 MMitchell (@mmitchell_ai) December 8, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mitchell is among a number of Google<\/a> employees publicly protesting<\/a> her departure. Thousands of the company\u2019s employees and supporters from other organizations have signed an open letter<\/a> expressing solidarity with Gebru \u2014 and the backlash shows no sign of abating.<\/p>\n

There are also concerns that the fallout will have a chilling effect on AI ethics researchers and big tech whistleblowers. As Gebru put it<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

If you talk about toxic workplace conditions, a lot of the leaders will want you out. If a lot of the leaders want you out, they\u2019ll find a way to make it happen. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Published December 11, 2020 \u2014 18:02 UTC <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The firing of an AI researcher wouldn\u2019t normally get a response from one of the world\u2019s most powerful CEOs or coverage from mainstream media. But Timnit Gebru\u2019s sudden departure from Google has turned…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}