Communications of the ACM
AI Groups Say They'll Spurn Google Funding
Three groups focused on increasing diversity in artificial intelligence say they will no longer take funding from Google. In an open letter to Google, Black in AI, Queer in AI, and Widening Natural Language Processing say they acted to protest Google's treatment of its former ethical AI team leaders Timnit Gebru and Margaret Mitchell, as well as former recruiter April Christina Curley, a Black queer woman.
"The potential for AI technologies to cause particular harm to members of our communities weighs heavily on our organizations," the statement reads. "Google's actions in the last few months have inflicted tremendous harms that have reverberated throughout our entire community. They not only have caused damage but set a dangerous precedent for what type of research, advocacy, and retaliation is permissible in our community."
In the statement, the groups endorse calls made in March by current and former Google employees for academic conferences to reject Google funding and for policymakers to enact stronger whistleblower protections for AI researchers.
From Wired
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