This is a good time to listen and learn. It is also a time for compassion, but not complacency. 2/
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Our field lacks diversity. This is the biggest danger of AI. As we witnessed this week, it is not easy to tear the chains of history. Few of us are able to rise above our environments and see our biases. Fortunately colleagues like @timnitGebru have bravely helped us 1/
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I watched the events with great sadness. It would be to easy to point fingers at one or few individuals, but in truth we are all guilty. The history of
@NeurIPSConf and similar conferences is one of bias. 3/Show this thread -
After a area chairs meeting in Vancouver, a member of the board asked what could be done better. A young member mentioned gender diversity. The reply from above was “next you’ll want us to solve the Middle East conflict” followed by laughter. It died there 4/
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After a banquet someone had a slide about where everyone came from, and a terrible joke was made about the lack of Africans.
@VogonPoet sitting next to me was upset, but most researchers laughed as they thought it was funny 5/Show this thread -
At a
@turinginst founding meeting I pointed out the importance of using the opportunity to raise awareness about the lack of black people in our student and faculty population. This was abruptly dismissed. I was told that only Oxford had this issue. Fortunately this is changing 6Show this thread -
There’s also the insidious biases, which are the hardest to surmount, eg Professors who foster a culture of killing oneself on paper deadlines, to the point of not sleeping the night before. This favoured single males. I’m guilty of this and I apologise to all my students. 7/
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We have so much work ahead. Fortunately we can now count on scholars like
@timnitGebru to help us. Yet, we all, and I really mean all, have a duty to listen and start doing something about it 8/Show this thread -
At an
@DeepIndaba meeting one of the invited speakers was from AWS. She was taken aback upon learning that this billion dollar industry owed much of its origins to Africa. We all have biases, so please engage on diversity programs, as they open our eyes a bit more. 9/Show this thread -
And make sure your company supports
@black_in_ai@QueerinAI@WiMLworkshop@DeepIndaba@Khipu_AI and so many more new and exciting diversity institutions. Every billion dollar company using AI has the debt and moral duty to do this. 10/Show this thread
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Thanks Nando. In 2013, when Mark Zuckerberg showed up at NeurIPS, u asked him a question about “the impact on society”. I was happy that u tried to hold him accountable. Things have changed since and I wish we didn’t become complicit in protecting society from negative impacts.
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Thank you for this thread.
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