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Google AI leader has defected to Apple
- flakiness 5y agoSo Turing-Award-worthy [1] AI researchers each gets the seat in the different big tech? I cannot help but rootlessly imagine the sifi-like battle royal among them! The climax would be that Bezos flying around in his robot [2] invented by an mysterious teen AI hacker, and that's why Amazon yet to porch any of these shy stars. Take a seat and have some popcorn! [1] https://awards.acm.org/about/2018-turing https://awards.acm.org/about/2018-turing [2] https://youtu.be/8NHwvbVyKi0 https://youtu.be/8NHwvbVyKi0 ---- Edit: Different Bengio :-(
- flyinglizard 5y agoIs he going to hire those fired AI ethics researchers to Apple?
- trhway 5y agoi'm pretty sure that the way one of those fired ethics researchers exfiltrated data from Google wouldn't fly at Apple, and in general i've never heard about Apple allowing the open discussions like Google.
- simfree 5y agoThe fired researchers were getting job offers a few weeks ago: https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/13/22370158/google-ai-ethics-timnit-gebru-margaret-mitchell-firing-reputation https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/13/22370158/google-ai-ethics... Has Google provided any evidence of substance regarding the exfiltration of data? The only thing I found is that she queried her own email inbox to find emails where her former coworker was discriminated against: https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/19/22292011/google-second-ethical-ai-researcher-fired https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/19/22292011/google-second-et...
- caddemon 5y agoI don't think that link says the fired researchers are getting job offers? The only mention of job offers I see is Mitchell's tweet, which from the context seems to be about colleagues of hers currently at Google getting offers elsewhere. Basically she thinks there will be more resignations because more people are just now getting alternative offers. I couldn't find anything online about Gebru or Mitchell actually getting offers, although IIRC Gebru said she has no interest in industry right now anyway.
- trhway 5y ago>Has Google provided any evidence of substance regarding the exfiltration of data? from your link "... included the exfiltration of confidential business-sensitive documents and private data of other employees,” Google said in a statement to Axios about Mitchell’s firing." if Google is making such a statement in such a public way and without evidence, the employee i'd suppose has a good chance of a settlement of a lifetime.
- xenocyon 5y agoProving defamation is actually quite hard. You have to prove both the untruthfulness of the statement made and prove that you have sustained monetary damages from it. If you manage to win, you will still likely be on the hook for your own legal fees. Finally, you will never recover the time sunk into this endeavor. For most people, it's simply not worth it.
- utopcell 5y agoIt would be quite hypocritical if he didn't.
- jonathanlb 5y agoAgreed, but that assumes: 1) that he has the power to do so 2) that Mitchell and Gebru want to join Apple At the moment, we don't know either of these assumptions.
- utopcell 5y agoI am assuming that he is joining as a manager, so he can bring candidates in for hiring. Also, surely whatever triggered his Google exit must not be an issue at Apple, since he decided to join there. That should be good enough for the two folks that you mention, no ?
- prepend 5y agoAnd 3) he is interested in hiring them.
- crossroadsguy 5y agoAnd it would be hypocritical of the fired parties to join a place as restrictive (and oppressive?) as Apple. Not to mentioned the garden, the wall etc.
- ALittleLight 5y agoLanguage like "defected" seems inappropriate. What loyalty does an employee owe beyond doing the work that you are paid for and not stealing or violating norms or ethics? "Defecting" implies there is some loyalty owed or betrayal happening.
- qPM9l3XJrF 5y agoI'm tired of everyone being obsessed with terminology. Maybe it's just a colorful turn of phrase eh?
- xwolfi 5y agoThat's what make the title more exciting for humans. People still seeing life as a set of interesting stories, it's more attractive to write otherwise boring trivia as such. It's like a financial newspaper writing about bulls struggling to beat the bears, while obviously no one wants to pay higher prices or selling at lower prices: nobody is winning or losing, it's just people buying or selling along demand and offer lines, quite chaotically. But, seeing the market as a permanent war between bulls (who would want to buy at higher prices for some reason) and bears (who would want to sell low) makes for an amusing entertainment in an otherwise bland day.
- zaptidizap 5y agoI would have gone with the more tastefull dr Frankenstein running from his monster analogy.
- DaiPlusPlus 5y agoI subscribe to the FT and that’s not my impression of their writing at all. Financial news is like Facebook: if it’s free then you’re the product.
- hervature 5y agoAgreed. It also implies that the original "state" thinks it is illegitimate. Like immigrating between countries is fine. Becoming a diplomat, moving countries, and permanently leaving the embassy is more of a defection.
- ageek123 5y agoThe article says he "left Google to protest the company's firings of its own AI ethics researchers" but there's no evidence of that -- for example, his farewell email did not mention that at all, and AFAIK he hasn't made any public statement indicating that that was the reason he left.
- simfree 5y agoSamy said he was stunned by what happened to Timnit Gebru. Given that Google locked Margaret Mitchell out of her own email, I would expect that Samy's ability to email had been restricted as well: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3469738016467233&id=100002932057665&comment_id=3470470943060607¬if_t=mentions_comment¬if_id=1607192244022022&ref=m_notif https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3469738016467233...
- _cs2017_ 5y agoHe does not need access to corporate email to say that he left in protest. He can post such a statement on Facebook, Twitter, or email reporters from his personal account.
- tdeck 5y agoIf this is the primary reason, it's kind of strange to choose Apple, a company with a notoriously secretive and authoritarian internal culture.
- brundolf 5y agoBut arguably fewer ethical problems around their technology itself (setting aside supply chain and business dealings)
- mlindner 5y agoApple cares about ethics though, it's even part of their brand image. Google destroyed that aspect of their brand image with the destruction of "don't be evil".
- joshgoldman 5y agoRead that as defecated
- davidjohn056 5y agoOh wow. That's interesting. Is there any google software that read books or read light novels https://readlightnovel.info/ https://readlightnovel.info/ for you and you just listen to it instead of reading it.
- moosedev 5y agoParent is spam. I don't have enough karma to flag it, but let's not give it any clicks.
- aesthethiccs 5y agoThis reads like an ingame cyberpunk event involving a corpo feud.
- FridgeSeal 5y agoWe’re a desert/Mesa compound, a tactical nuke, an extraction team and a cyberdeck away from being the plot-line for Count Zero.
- codezero 5y agoSpecialists have a choice where they go unless their company keeps them contractually under thumb. Let's not use language that implies companies earn/deserve loyalty.