BIGGER THAN BIAS

Perrigo reports that Timnit Gebru helped expose how artificial intelligence (AI) replicates prejudice and she's not waiting for Big Tech to fix it. Google hired Gebru in 2018 to help ensure that its AI products did not perpetuate racism or other societal inequalities. In her role, Gebru hired prominent researchers of color, published several papers that highlighted biases and ethical risks, and spoke at conferences. She also began raising her voice internally about her experiences of racism and sexism at work. But it was one of her research papers that led to her departure. Gebru's departure from Google set off a firestorm in the AI world. The company appeared to have forced out one of the world's most respected ethical AI researchers after she criticized some of its most lucrative work. The backlash was fierce. Gebru is a leading figure in a constellation of scholars, activists, regulators and technologists collaborating to reshape ideas about what AI is and what it should be.