5 ms·

Any details on what happened? Trying to get context, I see big names professors from Stanford, Caltech, Berkeley, Cornell all commenting/retweeting on how bad

Any details on what happened? Trying to get context, I see big names professors from Stanford, Caltech, Berkeley, Cornell all commenting/retweeting on how bad this is, so it's a big deal for sure

IvyMike 6y ago
One of her tweets says: > I was fired by @JeffDean for my email to Brain women and Allies. In a later tweet, says she would repost the email publicly but she no longer has access to it. I'm guessing it will leak soon.
- germanjoey 6y ago
  What's "Brain Women and Allies"?
  - trynewideas 6y ago
    Google Brain is a deep learning artificial intelligence research team at Google. Google Brain Women and Allies is a mailing list within the team.
    - PeterStuer 6y ago
      Are mailing lists in Google gender segregated?
      - whoknew1122 6y ago
        It's pretty common in large corporations to have 'affinity groups', which discuss topics that affect the group. I don't work at Google; I work at Amazon. I can only speak about my experience, but it's likely the same at Google. You don't have to be a part of an affinity group to be a member of the mailing list (that's where the ..and Allies portion comes into play). The 'Google Brain Women and Allies' mailing list is probably full of women from the Google Brain team, non-binary and men from in from the Google Brain team, and others who aren't on the Google Brain team but are interested in its work. Again, I don't know. But this is educated conjecture based on my experience at another FAANG.
        PeterStuer 6y ago
        Must be a US specific thing as I do not see this in EU corporations. I assume there is also a 'Google Brain Men and Allies'? Why not just a 'Google Brain and Allies'? Or does that also exist?
        whoknew1122 6y ago
        I would assume that there isn't a 'Google Brain Men and Allies' affinity group. "Google Brain" does likely have its own general distro where standard work-related topics are discussed. At the hazard of becoming 'political' and triggering people, affinity groups are typically created for groups that have traditionally been underserved, marginalized, or have special considerations. As a cis male, I don't really see the need for a 'Google Brain Men and Allies' distro list because the issues that men face in the workplace are generally the same issues everyone faces. Women (and nonbinary people) can be confronted with issues that men simply aren't. --- At Amazon, there are groups for Black employees, Latinx employees, LGBTQA+ employees, transgender employees, women, disabled employees, etc. Sometimes these groups talk about work; but sometimes they talk about just life things. For example, often cisgendered employees will have children that come out as trans. So they'll reach out to the transgender community for help and support as to how to be the best advocate for their child. Or, as a personal example, I moved to a new city to take the job at Amazon. I was looking for a therapist, and it was important that the therapist be supportive of LGBTQA+ issues and ethical non-monogamy. So I reached out to the LGBTQA+ group for therapist recommendations.
        PeterStuer 6y ago
        I understand these seem to be sensitive and 'political' issues in the US. I just do not understand how any of this labeling and segregation can be productive in a workplace.
        skywhopper 6y ago
        You don’t understand how trans people might have specific things in common to talk about that non-trans people don’t relate to? These groups aren’t just for political hot topics, but also for parents or for musicians or runners or any other affinity group.
- wishysgb 6y ago
  She posted the email.
  - rohanagarwal94 6y ago
    Can you share the link?
  - IvyMike 6y ago
    Can you post a link? I can't find it. (I see email from her manager to Timnit, but not the original email from Timnit to the mailing list)
    - IvyMike 6y ago
      Update with leaked email: https://www.platformer.news/p/the-withering-email-that-got-an-ethical https://www.platformer.news/p/the-withering-email-that-got-a...

Any details on what happened? Trying to get context, I see big names professors from Stanford, Caltech, Berkeley, Cornell all commenting/retweeting on how bad this is, so it's a big deal for sure

IvyMike 6y ago

One of her tweets says: > I was fired by @JeffDean for my email to Brain women and Allies. In a later tweet, says she would repost the email publicly but she no longer has access to it. I'm guessing it will leak soon.

germanjoey 6y ago
What's "Brain Women and Allies"?
- trynewideas 6y ago
  Google Brain is a deep learning artificial intelligence research team at Google. Google Brain Women and Allies is a mailing list within the team.
  - PeterStuer 6y ago
    Are mailing lists in Google gender segregated?
    - whoknew1122 6y ago
      It's pretty common in large corporations to have 'affinity groups', which discuss topics that affect the group. I don't work at Google; I work at Amazon. I can only speak about my experience, but it's likely the same at Google. You don't have to be a part of an affinity group to be a member of the mailing list (that's where the ..and Allies portion comes into play). The 'Google Brain Women and Allies' mailing list is probably full of women from the Google Brain team, non-binary and men from in from the Google Brain team, and others who aren't on the Google Brain team but are interested in its work. Again, I don't know. But this is educated conjecture based on my experience at another FAANG.
      - PeterStuer 6y ago
        Must be a US specific thing as I do not see this in EU corporations. I assume there is also a 'Google Brain Men and Allies'? Why not just a 'Google Brain and Allies'? Or does that also exist?
        whoknew1122 6y ago
        I would assume that there isn't a 'Google Brain Men and Allies' affinity group. "Google Brain" does likely have its own general distro where standard work-related topics are discussed. At the hazard of becoming 'political' and triggering people, affinity groups are typically created for groups that have traditionally been underserved, marginalized, or have special considerations. As a cis male, I don't really see the need for a 'Google Brain Men and Allies' distro list because the issues that men face in the workplace are generally the same issues everyone faces. Women (and nonbinary people) can be confronted with issues that men simply aren't. --- At Amazon, there are groups for Black employees, Latinx employees, LGBTQA+ employees, transgender employees, women, disabled employees, etc. Sometimes these groups talk about work; but sometimes they talk about just life things. For example, often cisgendered employees will have children that come out as trans. So they'll reach out to the transgender community for help and support as to how to be the best advocate for their child. Or, as a personal example, I moved to a new city to take the job at Amazon. I was looking for a therapist, and it was important that the therapist be supportive of LGBTQA+ issues and ethical non-monogamy. So I reached out to the LGBTQA+ group for therapist recommendations.
        PeterStuer 6y ago
        I understand these seem to be sensitive and 'political' issues in the US. I just do not understand how any of this labeling and segregation can be productive in a workplace.
        skywhopper 6y ago
        You don’t understand how trans people might have specific things in common to talk about that non-trans people don’t relate to? These groups aren’t just for political hot topics, but also for parents or for musicians or runners or any other affinity group.
wishysgb 6y ago
She posted the email.
- rohanagarwal94 6y ago
  Can you share the link?
- IvyMike 6y ago
  Can you post a link? I can't find it. (I see email from her manager to Timnit, but not the original email from Timnit to the mailing list)
  - IvyMike 6y ago
    Update with leaked email: https://www.platformer.news/p/the-withering-email-that-got-an-ethical https://www.platformer.news/p/the-withering-email-that-got-a...