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Margaret Mitchell fired from Google

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Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google

#271

You will learn a lot about Margaret Mitchell's firing by simply reading this piece she shared publicly on Twitter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ERi2crDToYhYjEjxRoOzO-uO... A few punchlines: "Every moment where Jeff Dean and Megan Kacholia do not take responsibility for their actions is another moment where the company as a whole stands by silently as if to intentionally send the horrifying message that Dr. Geb…

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Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google

#272

It's pretty important to get this story straight: She moved files when she wasn't supposed to. This seems like a pretty standard firing. People are already claiming on twitter that Google is assaulting ethical AI, and I just don't see it. Google did not immediately comment on those claims. Its statement said of Mitchell: “We confirmed that there were multiple violations of our code of conduct, as well as of our secur…

>She moved files when she wasn't supposed to If that's true, that's not very ethical is it?

Pretty debatable. Is the law equivalent to morality? If not then I can't see how corporate law is either, since corporations aren't even democracies.

Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google

#273
post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what will be an entirely self-serving, "everything is evidence for my existing worldview" claim... ...I would promote race-blindness as the solution to this. The more we talk about and focus on race, especially in a zero-sum context like "buy black-owned", the worse the racial tensions and competition will become. People confuse cultural power with economic power...just because many powerful people/businesses supp…

> ...I would promote race-blindness as the solution to this. Don't you know that colorblindness is white supremacy? So good luck with arguing that. https://twitter.com/CoralineAda/status/1267529522041282563 For those who don't know, this is the author of Code of Conduct and Hippocratic License.

See, I could probably get on board with being passively opposed to about half the stuff on that triangle. The other half is either outright bs or stuff I've never heard of.

Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google

#274

At the same time, Google unveiled a "Black owned businesses near me" on Google Maps. How has that been received? We need look no further than Twitter: (the Tl;Dr. racists are using this to lower all ratings of these Black owned businesses) https://twitter.com/dmetaxak/status/1362856231212212224 Google recently added a feature allowing users to search for "Black-owned businesses near you". They're advertising it all o…

> We need to ask: is it always a good idea to make marginalized groups more visible? Whom does it benefit? No it doesn’t. And I wish people would stop experimenting with this sort of thing and treating it as some sort of fad. I grew up, as an immigrant from a Muslim country, in a white Republican suburb in the 1990s. And it was great. I can’t imagine what life would have been like today - constant reminders of the fa…

You think your kids won't be white? My father wasn't white when he came here 30 years ago. Somehow magically I am. The same thing will happen to you too.

I call it Schrodinger's whiteness. You are white enough to be blamed for right wing racism yet not white enough to not be the target of it.

Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google

#275
post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unpacked, uncovered, documented, found. Deep seated, ingrained, established, systematic, breach non aligned, wrong, social societal, norms expectations laws, behaviours, Please. Don't be that person. What did you think it meant? What specifically. Was without meaning. Not what do you disagree with: to even pose the question, you have to be literate and capable of reading. At this point your question is actually a sta…

Someone asked you a question and you belittled them assuming worst intent. Please don't be THAT person. For one not everyone speaks english as a first language, two while i _think_ i understand what your getting at you picked a very obtuse way to phrase it and even i'm uncertain if i understand, three when speaking to a diverse audience from around the globe who probably are not aware of the language used when speaki…

I read their comment history. I know that's a bit doxxy but, they have a good grasp of wide ranging use of English.

Your point is well made otherwise and I take it on board. I need to be more careful, thoughtful.

Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google

#276
post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm seeking to normalize community accountability practices that are pretty core to many indigenous cultures, including my Irish ancestors. So, yeah...I'll pay for that in every organization I get involved with from here on out. Just cause it's not normalized doesn't mean it isn't useful. The reason to do it is for the sake of actual accountability, as strictly internal accountability is nonsense. This is the busines…

"community accountability practices" just sounds like mob justice. It seems like an especially bad idea in the current environment where people who are more than happy to join in an outrage mob after only hearing one side of the story, and sometimes aren't even affected by whatever they're targeting. A "community" shouldn't be anyone who happens to agree with you on twitter.

At this point a fair proportion of the planetary population is affected by FAANG's ethical stance on ad tech. It's looking likely AI is only going to make that worse.

A "community" should also not be an enforced happy smiley corporate PR face.

And mob justice can also look a lot like running people out of town because they're not properly respectful.

Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google

#277

You will learn a lot about Margaret Mitchell's firing by simply reading this piece she shared publicly on Twitter: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ERi2crDToYhYjEjxRoOzO-uO... A few punchlines: "Every moment where Jeff Dean and Megan Kacholia do not take responsibility for their actions is another moment where the company as a whole stands by silently as if to intentionally send the horrifying message that Dr. Geb…

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Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google

#278

It’s a really common refrain here that if you are employee critical of your employer you should expect to get fired… Well perhaps, but you’d think that specifically someone in AI ethics needs to be empowered to speak up against both internal external issues. Or did google just want an research ethics hit team against other companies technologies? Makes me wonder if project zero is really trying as hard as possible wi…

It's not that I want them to get fired, I'm just aware that the whole point of an in-house ethics committee is to excuse the objectionable stuff, not to publicly criticize it. Sort of like when people complain that HR wasn't on their side, but actually just ratted them out to management. Yeah that sucks, but that's their role. Be smart about how you dissent. Be anonymous and leak stuff. You'll still get to keep on cashing that paycheck and probably have a more meaningful impact on the broader world compared to some de-fanged "ethics" committee press releases.

Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google

#279
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think society at large really benefits from employers doing things this way? If you were in the ethics department of a company, unpacked deep seated entrenched breach of social norms and were blocked from talking about it but still believed in ethics, what would you do? I am unsure I would be prepared to do what she and Timbru did but that's a long way from the implied cynicism and also frankly abject legalist…

If you fire your "Ethical AI" team lead for disagreeing with you... maybe you are only interested in the appearance of being ethical. Just a thought.

There's room for discussion, certainly. If I hired an accountant to keep me on the straight and narrow and I expensed a dinner I'm not supposed to, I wouldn't want him to go running to Twitter and be like "Hey, everyone! Rene expensed a dinner with this guy abroad! That's a violation of the FCPA! He's a violator, guys! Heeeeeee's a violator!"

Like, if he did that, I'd be pretty incensed honestly. I'd expect him to tell me "Dude, you can't go around taking these guys out to dinner. That's like a bribery violation and shit, homie".

If he had to keep warning me, I could see him feeling that his professional ethics are being called into question, and then I'd expect him to either:

* quit and maybe blow the whistle

* stay and blow the whistle and then I'm gonna retaliate within my legal ability

Re: Margaret Mitchell fired from Google

#280
post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The political activist collective is slowly falling apart. If you get blamed for racism when firing an employee for telling colleagues not to pursue KPIs, there is not much you can do to continue placating these professional victims. They are now resorting to calling Google gaslighting for replacing Gebru with a Black person. It is low-brow ugly neo-racism, but then again, I don't really want Google AI in charge of A…

> They are now resorting to calling Google gaslighting for replacing Gebru with a Black person. The complaint isn't what they did, it's what they didn't do. There were no substantive policy changes that could address the underlying issues. Tokenism without change isn't improvement.

What are the underlying issues?
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