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Ethical Challenges Related to the NeurIPS 2024 Best Paper Award

30 points by Dowwie 2y ago

m_ke 2y ago
Who is "we" in this statement?
- RicoElectrico 2y ago
  Some anonymous person or group, apparently. https://github.com/var-integrity-report/var-integrity-report.github.io https://github.com/var-integrity-report/var-integrity-report... Not surprising considering the petty assholes you can get in academia.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
moralestapia 2y ago
[flagged]
readthenotes1 2y ago
Sounds like some people I've played games against, restating "Everything which is not forbidden is allowed" as "Everything which is allowed is expected"
- RicoElectrico 2y ago
  Do you mean Tian or the statement autor(s)? Please elaborate.
  - readthenotes1 2y ago
    Tian, if the report is accurate, statement authors if it's defamation
brookst 2y ago
I have no knowledge of the players and their comparative credibility, but this “ethical challenges” piece sure makes Keyu Tian out to be an insanely talented intern. Sabotaging pytorch source code via random seeds? Understanding that Docker containers were not version controlled? Stealing corp GPU time for personal projects? Setting up login backdoors? All this as an intern? That’s one multi-talented evil genius if true.
- m_ke 2y ago
  He's a graduate student with multiple influential papers, including NeurIPS best paper award here that might change how to do image / video generation, I think he can figure out docker and tweak a few lines of python.
  - brookst 2y ago
    It’s more the black hat expertise I’m referring to. Knowing that containers aren’t versioned, and that random seeds are a a good attack vector. Of course he knows python. But apparently also a very accomplished systems thinker who can apply it to a different domain.
    - m_ke 2y ago
      No it's not, anyone who ever used docker knows that the images don't get committed and setting random seeds is ML 101 for anyone who is trying to run repeatable experiments.
- RicoElectrico 2y ago
  This all was described before, and acted on by ByteDance. And let's be real, there's an inflation of what "intern" means in academia, finance and elsewhere like FAANG. They're often doing a job of an FTE in less-prestigious employers, just that it's maybe not directly expected to pay off.
- btwillard 2y ago
  I hope that person is paying you for this positive PR spin!
nis0s 2y ago
I made the following comment in another thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42386324 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42386324

30 points by Dowwie 2y ago

m_ke 2y ago

Who is "we" in this statement?

RicoElectrico 2y ago
Some anonymous person or group, apparently. https://github.com/var-integrity-report/var-integrity-report.github.io https://github.com/var-integrity-report/var-integrity-report... Not surprising considering the petty assholes you can get in academia.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

moralestapia 2y ago

[flagged]

readthenotes1 2y ago

Sounds like some people I've played games against, restating "Everything which is not forbidden is allowed" as "Everything which is allowed is expected"

RicoElectrico 2y ago
Do you mean Tian or the statement autor(s)? Please elaborate.
- readthenotes1 2y ago
  Tian, if the report is accurate, statement authors if it's defamation

brookst 2y ago

I have no knowledge of the players and their comparative credibility, but this “ethical challenges” piece sure makes Keyu Tian out to be an insanely talented intern. Sabotaging pytorch source code via random seeds? Understanding that Docker containers were not version controlled? Stealing corp GPU time for personal projects? Setting up login backdoors? All this as an intern? That’s one multi-talented evil genius if true.

m_ke 2y ago
He's a graduate student with multiple influential papers, including NeurIPS best paper award here that might change how to do image / video generation, I think he can figure out docker and tweak a few lines of python.
- brookst 2y ago
  It’s more the black hat expertise I’m referring to. Knowing that containers aren’t versioned, and that random seeds are a a good attack vector. Of course he knows python. But apparently also a very accomplished systems thinker who can apply it to a different domain.
  - m_ke 2y ago
    No it's not, anyone who ever used docker knows that the images don't get committed and setting random seeds is ML 101 for anyone who is trying to run repeatable experiments.
RicoElectrico 2y ago
This all was described before, and acted on by ByteDance. And let's be real, there's an inflation of what "intern" means in academia, finance and elsewhere like FAANG. They're often doing a job of an FTE in less-prestigious employers, just that it's maybe not directly expected to pay off.
btwillard 2y ago
I hope that person is paying you for this positive PR spin!

nis0s 2y ago

I made the following comment in another thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42386324 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42386324