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Google defends scrapping AI pledges and DEI goals in all-staff meeting

theguardian.com

131–140 of 181 posts

Re: Google defends scrapping AI pledges and DEI goals in all-staff meeting

#131
post #128
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

John Kerry was for civil unions and against gay marriage in 2004. Not saying that position or what people claimed or thought his opinion was didn't effect it but he didn't come out pro gay marriage until much later. Is say the swift boat thing and the flip flop accusations are what hurt him Also many Republicans are still very anti gay marriage

Civil unions/gay marriage were essentially the same thing in the oppositon’s talking points. Slippery slopes and all that. Gay marriage was an issue that hurt him badly. Evidence for this is Obama being ok with gay marriage while running a campaign that was adamantly opposed to it. Gay marriage is a virtual nonissue with Republican voters. They didn’t run on repealing it this past election cycle. They may care about…

Obama supported civil unions in 2004, but opposed same-sex marriage.[1]

[1] https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2012/may/11/barack-oba...

Re: Google defends scrapping AI pledges and DEI goals in all-staff meeting

#132
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is DEI discriminatory? Do you know of studies that have statistics to back up the claim?

I can tell you at Apple where I worked for almost a decade in the last year I see teams 99% made up of DEI hires. Apple should share the data.

Well, given that Apple is outperforming most other tech companies, that kind of sounds like a point in favor of DEI.

Re: Google defends scrapping AI pledges and DEI goals in all-staff meeting

#133
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Civil unions/gay marriage were essentially the same thing in the oppositon’s talking points. Slippery slopes and all that. Gay marriage was an issue that hurt him badly. Evidence for this is Obama being ok with gay marriage while running a campaign that was adamantly opposed to it. Gay marriage is a virtual nonissue with Republican voters. They didn’t run on repealing it this past election cycle. They may care about…

Obama supported civil unions in 2004, but opposed same-sex marriage.[1] [1] https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2012/may/11/barack-oba...

My memory is that when he ran for President in 2008 he and the Demicratic Party made it clear there would be no federal push for gay marriage/civil unions.

According to the article he publicly held a variety of positions on the topic over the years. Apparently you can find a quote of his to fit whatever narrative one wants but they didn’t push for federal legislation on the isssue in 2009.

Re: Google defends scrapping AI pledges and DEI goals in all-staff meeting

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm genuinely curious how you know which ones are which. Is it indicated like on their badge?

I’d assume that demographics should somewhat match real demographics. If your country is 50% white people and 50% black people, you’d see that in hiring in general with some variance. You’d probably have to adjust for socioeconomic level etc. It’s no good if all the hires in the low paying jobs are one type of people. I don’t think it’s impossible to tell even if “99%” is hyperbole.

> I’d assume that demographics should somewhat match real demographics.

At work? I doubt that. Only for a job available to anyone and chosen by everyone. I don't think there's any jobs even roughly like that.

People get jobs and then their social and professional network now has someone who works at $BIGCO. Now folks can see themselves there and apply for openings, which could accelerate this effect. Now you can see minorities hired on merit, showing up in clusters.

> I don’t think it’s impossible to tell even if “99%” is hyperbole.

I dunno - it just seems like "majority ethnicity implies merit, minority implies DEI" to me.

Re: Google defends scrapping AI pledges and DEI goals in all-staff meeting

#135
post #52

DEI will be back under a different name because it's a problem that needs to be solved. It's like the huge backlash against affirmative action.

The problem needs to be solved earlier along the chain than hiring. At education and marketing for education ideally. Companies should hire the best, but schools should be starting everyone off on the right track and the rest should work out.

This started as admonishment: that diversity, equity, and inclusion is an existing and important aspect of our education system that is being actively and unconstitutionally destroyed. It became something more, because the crisis we face if we allow the current situation to proceed is much greater than the degradation of our education->corporation pipeline.

The people that are reimplementing Jim Crow apartheid in America under the guise of protecting us from diversity, equity, and inclusion are the same people who have been actively undermining the education system in America, from banning accepted science such as evolution to clever extortion schemes diverting collective funds from public education to private religious/ideological indoctrination. As part of the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion from American society, Trump has mandated that schools teach a false version of American history that forbids acknowledging that the USA has ever done racist things. They are currently working to completely eliminate the Department of Education.

Meanwhile, in between threatening to arrest congresspeople, commentators, and journalists for clear first-amendment-protected speech and retweeting literal white supremacist propaganda, Elon Musk is guiding his strike team of blackhats and/or neonazis to completely purge the government of patriotic workers and destroy its ability to do anything but wage offensive wars and enforce the radical puritanical mores of millenarian "Christian" sects. The American people (and indeed, citizens of the developed world) currently exist in a hyperreality that requires self-deprivation to clear the fog of algorithmic far-right radicalization employed by our media companies social and traditional. We suck at that. The history of countries in analogous situations is bleak: we are rapidly approaching moral oblivion. There is not a human in this world who will remain unscathed by the devastation we unleash.

Re: Google defends scrapping AI pledges and DEI goals in all-staff meeting

#137
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are also now illegal by executive order which is the main reason companies are getting rid of them. I agree with you they were biased but companies don't care about that

> illegal by executive order I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic here, but even if so: This phrasing is too close to just spreading a pro-Trump lie outright. Better to say that companies are avoiding these policies because a wannabe dictator has thrown a hissy fit about them while CCing everyone on the email.

It's analogous to "working toward the führer" and, like most historical content about the rise of the Nazis, the parallels with today's USA are haunting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Kershaw#%22Working_Towards...

Re: Google defends scrapping AI pledges and DEI goals in all-staff meeting

#139
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(And burn a tree in the process as compared to a human answer) Thanks for clarifying!

a chatgpt query is like 10x a google query (before they added LLM summary), you’d have more impact cutting out meat or taking fewer flights

> you’d have more impact cutting out meat or taking fewer flights

Guess what!

This and more... You're telling the wrong person to do good in the world xD

Anyway, upvoted because you are of course right

Re: Google defends scrapping AI pledges and DEI goals in all-staff meeting

#140
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it? My "I just want the best for everyone" side likes to think being consciously and explicitly open to all candidates, having a women's day on stereotypical men's jobs, quotas, etc., makes things better because you get more perspectives in your org. Your business/government is more likely to cater to the whole population if it's lead by a reflection of the whole population and all that. But I don't actually kno…

A good read https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-full-story-of-the-fa...

Article's title: "The Full Story of the FAA's Hiring Scandal"

Saving others a click: it's an n=1

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