“It’s All Marketing” - Dr. Timnit Gebru on the Smoke and Mirrors of AI Hype - Part I
Welcome to B The Way Forward Interludes - a series of conversations that don’t necessarily fit in our regular season, but are just too good to not share.
Heard something about AI Lately? Have those two letters shown up in just about every app you use - whether you want them to or not? Yeah. Same. These days, it seems like you can’t go an hour without hearing that Artificial Intelligence is going to radically remake our world. But… is it? There’s so much hype it can be hard to really know what people even mean when they say AI. It can’t all be ChatGPT helping you with cover letters and AI-generated images of the Balenciaga Pope, can it?
Dr. Timnit Gebru is one of the voices speaking loudly and honestly about AI outside of the Big Tech hype bubble. And she has the bonafides to back that up. Timnit holds a BA, Masters and a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Vision from Stanford. Plus, She co-led Google’s Ethical AI research team… until, in 2020, she and her co-lead sounded the alarm about the potential harms of large language models in a paper they titled “On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big.”
That paper led to an abrupt end to her time at Google. But Timnit hasn’t stopped working on how AI and Machine Learning can be developed in ways that serve all communities - most recently as the co-founder and Executive Director of DAIR.
In part 1 of our 2-part conversation, we talk about what AI is and isn’t, the difference between AI summers and AI winters, and why bigger isn’t always better when it comes to language Models.
For more, check out Timnit and her work...
On Bluesky - @timnitgebru.bsky.social
On Mastodon - @
[email protected]
On LinkedIn - /timnit-gebru-7b3b407
On X - @timnitGebru
And read Timnit, and Emily M. Bender's paper, “On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big.”
---
At AnitaB.org, our mission is to enable and equip women technologists with the tools, resources, and knowledge they need to thrive. Through innovative programs and initiatives, we empower women to chart new paths, better prepared to lead, advance, and achieve equitable compensation. Because when women succeed, they uplift their communities and redefine success on their terms, both professionally and personally.
---
Connect with AnitaB.org
Instagram - @anitab_org
Facebook - /anitab.0rg
LinkedIn - /anitab-org
On the web - anitab.org
---
Our guests contribute to this podcast in their personal capacity. The views expressed in this interview are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology or its employees (“AnitaB.org”). AnitaB.org is not responsible for and does not verify the accuracy of the information provided in the podcast series. The primary purpose of this podcast is to educate and inform. This podcast series does not constitute legal or other professional advice or services.
---
B The Way Forward Is…
Hosted and Executive Produced by Brenda Darden Wilkerson.
Produced by Avi Glijansky
Associate Produced by Kelli Kyle
Sound design and editing by Ryan Hammond
Mixing and mastering by Julian Kwasneski
Additional Producing help from Faith Krogulecki
Operations Coordination for AnitaB.org by Quinton Sprull.
Creative Director for AnitaB.org is Deandra Coleman
Executive Produced by Dominique Ferrari, Stacey Book, and Avi Glijansky for Frequency Machine
Photo of Brenda Darden Wilkerson by Mandisa Media Productions
For more ways to be the way forward, visit AnitaB.org
México