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Ethical AI researcher Timnit Gebru fired from Google
141–150 of 310 posts
Re: Ethical AI researcher Timnit Gebru fired from Google
#142The comments here are disheartening, essentially a combination of “It was Google’s right to fire her” and “She seemed ‘difficult.’” For an industry-operated “Ethics in AI” group to have any teeth, it can’t fire people when they do research that makes them look bad, or when members of the group are ‘difficult.’ (Multiple members of the team she managed have said that she was a great manager and this came as a total su…
Internal ethics commissions aren't independent and cannot really work in opposition, so the effectiveness is always questionable and it doesn't seem that ethical behavior of Google products was the issue in this conflict.
AIs were accused of being biased so Google may have hired her as a defense mechanism. Her job was to justify Googles actions, basically a PR job and not a control organ.
Re: Ethical AI researcher Timnit Gebru fired from Google
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
In many U.S. states to include California, employment is legally considered “at-will.” This means the employer can terminate the employment agreement at any time and for nearly any reason. You cannot fire someone for membership in a protected class (race, religion, sexual orientation, etc) or participation in protected activities like reporting an employer’s violations of the law, but it’s difficult to prove intent i…
why is this being downvoted? They stated facts not opinions.
Im most cases downvotes are knee-jerk reaction. I find it normal. People are sensitive creatures with strong biases as default. I read HN actively from 2008 (good old days:) ) nowadays I always look at downvoted comments first to gain information.
Re: Ethical AI researcher Timnit Gebru fired from Google
#144The comments here are disheartening, essentially a combination of “It was Google’s right to fire her” and “She seemed ‘difficult.’” For an industry-operated “Ethics in AI” group to have any teeth, it can’t fire people when they do research that makes them look bad, or when members of the group are ‘difficult.’ (Multiple members of the team she managed have said that she was a great manager and this came as a total su…
> "when members of the group are ‘difficult’"
Dunno where you've worked but people who are disruptive to team functioning can (and should!) be terminated. Nobody should have to put up with a hostile work environment.
Re: Ethical AI researcher Timnit Gebru fired from Google
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
why is this being downvoted? They stated facts not opinions.
Im most cases downvotes are knee-jerk reaction. I find it normal. People are sensitive creatures with strong biases as default. I read HN actively from 2008 (good old days:) ) nowadays I always look at downvoted comments first to gain information.
I have been long time HN lurker and I too miss the older times, but have hard time finding better alternative.
Re: Ethical AI researcher Timnit Gebru fired from Google
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd call it petty more than sleazy. Drama queens on both sides.
Threat of resignation is not a resignation. Either they follow due termination process, or she might still be employed or have good legal case.
Her tweet suggests she submitted a resignation letter, and offered to "take her name off of it" if they met her terms. Means that's not a threat, they got a signed letter for her resignation.
Re: Ethical AI researcher Timnit Gebru fired from Google
#147The comments here are disheartening, essentially a combination of “It was Google’s right to fire her” and “She seemed ‘difficult.’” For an industry-operated “Ethics in AI” group to have any teeth, it can’t fire people when they do research that makes them look bad, or when members of the group are ‘difficult.’ (Multiple members of the team she managed have said that she was a great manager and this came as a total su…
In my opinion, she is being very unfair to a lot of her colleagues by not telling the whole truth and at the same time making very serious accusations. She sent email to large group of employees which violated some standards expected from a manager by Google. She is giving all the information except for what exactly she did. It's ironic that she is in "ethics business" but at the same time not realizing that it's unethical to withhold what she did while launching attacks on everyone.
Re: Ethical AI researcher Timnit Gebru fired from Google
#148She just retweeted: "They (tech companies) stay coming after black women." https://twitter.com/chenaichair/status/1334384579596197889 The casualness to make this now about race/gender as well when that wasn't even her inital argument. I can't imagine working in this kind of environment. It must be exhausting, always having to tread on eggshells or end up on a twitter firing squad. Not being able to argue points, with…
I remember reading on her twitter around the Yann LeCun scandal time, she acknowledged her privilege while calling Yann on his. I didn't like how a man's output was seen as the result of privilege instead of hard work.
Re: Ethical AI researcher Timnit Gebru fired from Google
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't be shocked if Google saw this drama, saw that she was offering to resign, and was like "that's a freebie."
But that drama was some time ago. She should have been fired on the spot back then, but, at Google women are virtually unfireable, black women doubly so. Whatever she did to get canned like this must have been extreme. Either that or Google is learning how to hold these sorts of employees to the same standards as their less fashionable colleagues. Edit: incorrectly claimed the spat was before 2020, it wasn't. 2020 ju…
> at Google women are virtually unfireable, black women doubly so.
Huge, HUGE [citation needed].
Re: Ethical AI researcher Timnit Gebru fired from Google
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm surprised that she opted to publicly put the blame on someone and link to their Twitter. That could be interpreted as a dog whistle to her followers to start the public shaming. But at the very least, I'd guess that this will make any potential future employer think twice if they really want to be her manager. And lastly, I remember the name Jeff Dean from reading about advanced AI research, so if someone publicl…
Jeff Dean isn't just someone from advanced AI research. He's one of the longest time Google employees and a key part of the company's success. He's one of the chief engineers behind MapReduce, BigTable, Spanner, the re-awakening of neural network research and many other incredible achievements. At one point inside Google there was a website called "Jeff Dean Facts" similar to the Chuck Norris facts. The guys reputati…
Wow... didn't connect the two! I remember the Yann LeCun controversy. Didn't dive into it. Now the same person has an issue with Jeff Dean?