Among the worlds richest and most powerful companies, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple have made AI core parts of their business. Advances over the last decade, particularly in an AI technique called deep learning, have allowed them to monitor users behavior; recommend news, information, and products to them; and most of all, target them with ads. Last year Googles advertising apparatus generated over $140 billion in revenue. Facebooks generated $84 billion.
The companies have invested heavily in the technology that has brought them such vast wealth. Googles parent company, Alphabet, acquired the London-based AI lab DeepMind for $600 million in 2014 and spends hundreds of millions a year to support its research. Microsoft signed a $1 billion deal with OpenAI in 2019 for commercialization rights to its algorithms.
At the same time, tech giants have become large investors in university-based AI research, heavily influencing its scientific priorities. Over the years, more and more ambitious scientists have transitioned to working for tech giants full time or adopted a dual affiliation. From 2018 to 2019, 58% of the most cited papers at the top two AI conferences had at least one author affiliated with a tech giant, compared with only 11% a decade earlier, according to a study by researchers in the Radical AI Network, a group that seeks to challenge power dynamics in AI.
The problem is that the corporate agenda for AI has focused on techniques with commercial potential, largely ignoring research that could help address challenges like economic inequality and climate change. In fact, it has made these challenges worse. The drive to automate tasks has cost jobs and led to the rise of tedious labor like data cleaning and content moderation. The push to create ever larger models has caused AIs energy consumption to explode. Deep learning has also created a culture in which our data is constantly scraped, often without consent, to train products like facial recognition systems. And recommendation algorithms have exacerbated political polarization, while large language models have failed to clean up misinformation.
Its this situation that Gebru and a growing movement of like-minded scholars want to change. Over the last five years, theyve sought to shift the fields priorities away from simply enriching tech companies, by expanding who gets to participate in developing the technology. Their goal is not only to mitigate the harms caused by existing systems but to create a new, more equitable and democratic AI.
In December 2015, Gebru sat down to pen an open letter. Halfway through her PhD at Stanford, shed attended the Neural Information Processing Systems conference, the largest annual AI research gathering. Of the more than 3,700 researchers there, Gebru counted only a handful who were Black.
Once a small meeting about a niche academic subject, NeurIPS (as its now known) was quickly becoming the biggest annual AI job bonanza. The worlds wealthiest companies were coming to show off demos, throw extravagant parties, and write hefty checks for the rarest people in Silicon Valley: skillful AI researchers.
That year Elon Musk arrived to announce the nonprofit venture OpenAI. He, Y Combinators then president Sam Altman, and PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel had put up $1 billion to solve what they believed to be an existential problem: the prospect that a superintelligence could one day take over the world. Their solution: build an even better superintelligence. Of the 14 advisors or technical team members he anointed, 11 were white men.
RICARDO SANTOS | COURTESY PHOTO
While Musk was being lionized, Gebru was dealing with humiliation and harassment. At a conference party, a group of drunk guys in Google Research T-shirts circled her and subjected her to unwanted hugs, a kiss on the cheek, and a photo.
Gebru typed out a scathing critique of what she had observed: the spectacle, the cult-like worship of AI celebrities, and most of all, the overwhelming homogeneity. This boys club culture, she wrote, had already pushed talented women out of the field. It was also leading the entire community toward a dangerously narrow conception of artificial intelligence and its impact on the world.
Google had already deployed a computer-vision algorithm that classified Black people as gorillas, she noted. And the increasing sophistication of unmanned drones was putting the US military on a path toward lethal autonomous weapons. But there was no mention of these issues in Musks grand plan to stop AI from taking over the world in some theoretical future scenario. We dont have to project into the future to see AIs potential adverse effects, Gebru wrote. It is already happening.
Gebru never published her reflection. But she realized that something needed to change. On January 28, 2016, she sent an email with the subject line Hello from Timnit to five other Black AI researchers. Ive always been sad by the lack of color in AI, she wrote. But now I have seen 5 of you 🙂 and thought that it would be cool if we started a black in AI group or at least know of each other.
The email prompted a discussion. What was it about being Black that informed their research? For Gebru, her work was very much a product of her identity; for others, it was not. But after meeting they agreed: If AI was going to play a bigger role in society, they needed more Black researchers. Otherwise, the field would produce weaker scienceand its adverse consequences could get far worse.
As Black in AI was just beginning to coalesce, AI was hitting its commercial stride. That year, 2016, tech giants spent an estimated $20 to $30 billion on developing the technology, according to the McKinsey Global Institute.
Heated by corporate investment, the field warped. Thousands more researchers began studying AI, but they mostly wanted to work on deep-learning algorithms, such as the ones behind large language models. As a young PhD student who wants to get a job at a tech company, you realize that tech companies are all about deep learning, says Suresh Venkatasubramanian, a computer science professor who now serves at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. So you shift all your research to deep learning. Then the next PhD student coming in looks around and says, Everyones doing deep learning. I should probably do it too.
But deep learning isnt the only technique in the field. Before its boom, there was a different AI approach known as symbolic reasoning. Whereas deep learning uses massive amounts of data to teach algorithms about meaningful relationships in information, symbolic reasoning focuses on explicitly encoding knowledge and logic based on human expertise.
Some researchers now believe those techniques should be combined. The hybrid approach would make AI more efficient in its use of data and energy, and give it the knowledge and reasoning abilities of an expert as well as the capacity to update itself with new information. But companies have little incentive to explore alternative approaches when the surest way to maximize their profits is to build ever bigger models.
Read the original here:
Inside the fight to reclaim AI from Big Techs control - MIT Technology Review
- The Great AI Race: Forecasts Diverge on the Arrival of Superintelligence - elblog.pl - April 14th, 2024 [April 14th, 2024]
- ASI Alliance Voting Opens: What Lies Ahead for AGIX, FET and OCEAN? - CCN.com - April 6th, 2024 [April 6th, 2024]
- Revolutionary AI: The Rise of the Super-Intelligent Digital Masterminds - Medium - January 2nd, 2024 [January 2nd, 2024]
- AI, arms control and the new cold war | The Strategist - The Strategist - November 16th, 2023 [November 16th, 2023]
- The Best ChatGPT Prompts Are Highly Emotional, Study Confirms - Tech.co - November 16th, 2023 [November 16th, 2023]
- 20 Movies About AI That Came Out in the Last 5 Years - MovieWeb - November 16th, 2023 [November 16th, 2023]
- Can You Imagine Life Without White Supremacy? - Dallasweekly - November 16th, 2023 [November 16th, 2023]
- Will Humanity solve the AI Alignment Problem? | by Enrique Tinoco ... - Medium - October 31st, 2023 [October 31st, 2023]
- The Tesla Trap; Ellison Going Nuclear; Dont Count Headsets Out - Equities News - October 31st, 2023 [October 31st, 2023]
- Future Investment Initiative emphasizes global cooperation and AI ... - Saudi Gazette - October 31st, 2023 [October 31st, 2023]
- AI systems favor sycophancy over truthful answers, says new report - CoinGeek - October 31st, 2023 [October 31st, 2023]
- What "The Creator", a film about the future, tells us about the present - InCyber - October 31st, 2023 [October 31st, 2023]
- Invincible's Guardians Of The Globe Team Members, History ... - Screen Rant - October 31st, 2023 [October 31st, 2023]
- From streaming wars to superintelligence with John Oliver & Calum ... - KNEWS - The English Edition of Kathimerini Cyprus - October 22nd, 2023 [October 22nd, 2023]
- Reckoning with self-destruction in Oppenheimer, Indiana Jones, and ... - The Christian Century - October 22nd, 2023 [October 22nd, 2023]
- How Microsoft's CEO tackles the ethical dilemma of AI and its ... - Medium - October 22nd, 2023 [October 22nd, 2023]
- Managing risk: Pandemics and plagues in the age of AI - The Interpreter - October 22nd, 2023 [October 22nd, 2023]
- Artificial Intelligence Has No Reason to Harm Us - The Wire - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- Fischer Black and Artificial Superintelligence - InformationWeek - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- OpenAI Forms Specialized Team to Align Superintelligent AI with ... - Fagen wasanni - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- 10 Best Books on Artificial Intelligence | TheReviewGeek ... - TheReviewGeek - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- The Concerns Surrounding Advanced Artificial Intelligence and the ... - Fagen wasanni - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- Decentralized AI: Revolutionizing Technology and Addressing ... - Fagen wasanni - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- An 'Oppenheimer Moment' For The Progenitors Of AI - NOEMA - Noema Magazine - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- The Implications of AI Advancements on Human Thinking and ... - Fagen wasanni - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- Focusing on Tackling Algorithmic Bias is Key to Ethical AI ... - Fagen wasanni - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- Discover This SUPER Early AI Crypto Gem - Altcoin Buzz - August 2nd, 2023 [August 2nd, 2023]
- Biden meets with AI leaders to discuss its 'enormous promise and its ... - KULR-TV - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- VivaTech: The Secret of Elon Musk's Success? 'Crystal Meth' - The New Stack - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- AI meets the other AI - POLITICO - POLITICO - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- Squid Game trailer for real-life reality contest prompts confusion from Netflix users - Yahoo News - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- Our Future Inside The Fifth Column- Or, What Chatbots Are Really For - Tech Policy Press - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- Elon Musk refuses to 'censor' Twitter in face of EU rules - Roya News English - June 20th, 2023 [June 20th, 2023]
- AI alignment - Wikipedia - January 4th, 2023 [January 4th, 2023]
- Are We Living In A Simulation? Can We Break Out Of It? - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
- Amazon.com: Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies eBook ... - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- What is Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI)? - GeeksforGeeks - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Literature and Religion | Literature and Religion - Patheos - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Why AI will never rule the world - Digital Trends - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Why DART Is the Most Important Mission Ever Launched to Space - Gizmodo Australia - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- 'Sweet Home Alabama' turns 20: See how the cast has aged - Wonderwall - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Research Shows that Superintelligent AI is Impossible to be Controlled - Analytics India Magazine - September 24th, 2022 [September 24th, 2022]
- Eight best books on AI ethics and bias - INDIAai - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- AI Art Is Here and the World Is Already Different - New York Magazine - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Would "artificial superintelligence" lead to the end of life on Earth ... - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- Instrumental convergence - Wikipedia - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- The Best Sci-Fi Movies on HBO Max - CNET - September 14th, 2022 [September 14th, 2022]
- Elon Musk Shares a Summer Reading Idea - TheStreet - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Bullet Train Review: Brad Pitt Even Shines in an Action-Packed Star Vehicle that Goes Nowhere Fast - IndieWire - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Peter McKnight: The day of sentient AI is coming, and we're not ready - Vancouver Sun - June 20th, 2022 [June 20th, 2022]
- SC judges should have minimum of seven to eight years of judgeship tenure: Justice L Nageswara Rao - The Tribune India - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- WATCH: Neuralink, mind uploading and the AI apocalypse - Hamilton Spectator - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- Artificial Intelligence And the Human Context of War - The National Interest Online - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- Elon Musk and the Posthumanist Threat | John Waters - First Things - May 3rd, 2022 [May 3rd, 2022]
- Eliminating AI Bias: Human Intelligence is Not the Ultimate Solution - Analytics Insight - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- If You Want to Succeed With Artificial Intelligence in Marketing, Invest in People - CMSWire - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Here Are All The TV Shows And Movies To Watch Featuring The Cast Of "Atlanta" - BuzzFeed - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- What2Watch: This week's worth-the-watch - Review - Review - March 31st, 2022 [March 31st, 2022]
- Top 10 Algorithms Helping the Superintelligent AI Growth in 2022 - Analytics Insight - March 29th, 2022 [March 29th, 2022]
- AI Ethics Keeps Relentlessly Asking Or Imploring How To Adequately Control AI, Including The Matter Of AI That Drives Self-Driving Cars - Forbes - March 18th, 2022 [March 18th, 2022]
- What to watch next on Showmax - News24 - March 18th, 2022 [March 18th, 2022]
- Does Kimi deliver the goods? Thriller aims to capitalize on Alexa, Siri and Seattles tech cachet - GeekWire - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- 'Downfall' follows chain of bad decisions that led up to Boeing 737-Max crashes - Lewiston Morning Tribune - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- Maybe it is Not Too Late to Buy Bitcoin! BTC has a Long Way to Go - Analytics Insight - February 17th, 2022 [February 17th, 2022]
- Giving an AI control of nuclear weapons: What could possibly go wrong? - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - February 7th, 2022 [February 7th, 2022]
- Meet the cast of The Afterparty - Radio Times - January 27th, 2022 [January 27th, 2022]
- 8 big threats to human stability and even existence in 2022 - AMEinfo - January 27th, 2022 [January 27th, 2022]
- Artificial Intelligence in Cardiology | AER - January 17th, 2022 [January 17th, 2022]
- Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? Artificial Superintelligence Could Provide the Answer - BBN Times - January 17th, 2022 [January 17th, 2022]
- Movie Review: The 355 - mxdwn.com - January 9th, 2022 [January 9th, 2022]
- AI control problem - Wikipedia - December 10th, 2021 [December 10th, 2021]
- REPORT : Baltic Event Works in Progress 2021 - Cineuropa - December 5th, 2021 [December 5th, 2021]
- Top Books On AI Released In 2021 - Analytics India Magazine - November 27th, 2021 [November 27th, 2021]
- Inside the MIT camp teaching kids to spot bias in code - Popular Science - November 27th, 2021 [November 27th, 2021]
- 7 Types Of Artificial Intelligence - Forbes - November 17th, 2021 [November 17th, 2021]
- The Flash Season 8 Poster Kicks Off Five-Part Armageddon Story Tonight on The CW - TVweb - November 17th, 2021 [November 17th, 2021]
- Nick Bostrom - Wikipedia - November 15th, 2021 [November 15th, 2021]
- Cowboy Bebop; Ein dogs were really spoiled on set - Dog of the Day - November 13th, 2021 [November 13th, 2021]
- Inside the Impact on Marvel of Brian Tyree Henry's Openly Gay Character in 'Eternals' - Black Girl Nerds - November 13th, 2021 [November 13th, 2021]
- The funny formula: Why machine-generated humor is the holy grail of A.I. - Digital Trends - November 13th, 2021 [November 13th, 2021]