Timnit Gebru (she/her).Sep 22, 2023

Speaking of Shane Legg, co-founder & "chief AGI scientist" 🙄 of Deepmind, here is this gem he co-authored in 2007 titled "Universal Intelligence" where he wonders, as one does,

"Are men on average more intelligent than women? Are white people smarter than black people?" 🤔 Questions white men like to "ask"

https://arxiv.org/pdf/0712.3329.pdf

Show threadTimnit Gebru (she/her).

They continue.

"determining whether a test, perhaps quite unintentionally, is partly a reflection of the race, gender, culture or social class of its creator is a subtle, complex & often politically charged issue...many have concluded that it is wise to stay well clear of this topic"

Ahh but not them! Our gallant "researchers" will not steer clear of this topic. They continue,

"In reality the situation is not as bad as it is sometimes made out to be."

Tell me more!

Sep 22, 2023 at 2:13amWeb
Show threadTimnit Gebru (she/her).Sep 22, 2023

"Although the details of the definition are debated, in broad terms a fair degree of consensus about the scientific definition of intelligence and how to measure it has been achieved."

Smdh. I don't even want to see their citations or read the footnotes as Emily M. Bender says.

Show threadTimnit Gebru (she/her).Sep 22, 2023
Oh it gets worse. THEY ARE CITING THE EDITORIAL COMING TO CHARLES MURRAY'S DEFENSE AFTER HIS HORRIBLE RACIST BOOK. I need a fucking drink.
Show threadTimnit Gebru (she/her).Sep 22, 2023
I die a little inside with each word I have to read by these people but even when we have EXACT QUOTES people come at us.
Show threadJ. Nathan Matias 🦣Sep 22, 2023

@timnitGebru 🙃

It is unfortunately a sign of how widespread these views are that they felt like it made sense to cite it — but I guess two years after the Larry Summers controversy, people still felt empowered to repeat scientific racism.

Kinda scared what would arise from a bibliometric analysis of scientific racism on CS arxiv.

Show threadTimnit Gebru (she/her).Sep 22, 2023
@natematias Sounds like a great project! We could even just do the subsets that would fall under "AI"
Show threadJonathan HendrySep 22, 2023

@natematias @timnitGebru

Should do a similar analysis on crank magnet evil twin site vixra.org as well, for comparison.

Show threadkeeps vis.social runningSep 22, 2023
@timnitGebru Thank goodness that you do, and that you call it out.
Show threadFinley ⓋSep 22, 2023

@timnitGebru Ugh. I'm sorry you have to do that. I know how horrifying it is being forced to read all the xenophobic shit people say about you.

Every time I see a trans woman debunking TERFs, I know they're doing a horrible job that is incredibly bad for your mental health.

Show threadFinley ⓋSep 22, 2023
@timnitGebru Now that I say that though, I am morbidly curious how many of these TESCREAL people are also spouting off transmisogynist nonsense.
Show threadTimnit Gebru (she/her).Sep 22, 2023
@finley Oh they are. E.g. Elon Musk 🤮
Show threadwasabi brainSep 22, 2023
@timnitGebru hey dr timnit, I remember reading about you when the google firing happened and wanted to thank you for your bravery. I don’t think I would have had your courage to walk away from the google paychecks and been open about the fundamental problems you were seeing in the application of AI. At best I think I would have slunk away in silence
Show threadTimnit Gebru (she/her).Sep 22, 2023
@virtualinanity Thank you! I don't think any of us really know how we'd act until things happen though. So who knows how you would have handled it.
Show threadRaven OnthillSep 22, 2023

@timnitGebru what consensus there is, all points the other way. Most experts regard "intelligence" measures as empirical tools mainly of use in pedagogy; the view that they are otherwise has collapsed in the face of evidence that shows that such measures are enormously influenced by environmental factors and test design.

It's very easy, though, for someone with a STEM background to go down this rabbit hole, there is all this pretty mathematics. But the data it is applied to is garbage.

Show threadCaptMorganSep 23, 2023
@timnitGebru Take comfort in the fact that the arguments these highly respected researchers make are completely without scientific merit 🫣🤮
Show threadSteve DodgeSep 22, 2023
@timnitGebru
Scanned it long enough to see the Jensen citation. That was enough for me.
Show threadCharlie StrossSep 22, 2023
@timnitGebru Please do not base a drinking game on doing shots whenever one of these dipshits does a racism/sexism: I don't want you dead of liver failure!
Show threadJonSep 22, 2023
@timnitGebru classic "just asking questions" ... it's true though that in many circles there is a fair decree about the "scientific" definition of intelligence: it's racist af., But somehow I don't think that's the "consensus" he's referring to.

EDIT: also sexist af.
Show threadJima Sep 22, 2023
@timnitGebru I found their citations.
Show threadCraftwork7600Sep 22, 2023
@timnitGebru Was this paper ever retracted? #archivetoday #archive #archivists #archivist #archiving
Show threadokanogen VerminEnemyFromWithinSep 22, 2023
@timnitGebru
"In reality the situation is not as bad as it is sometimes made out to be."
Yeah, it's worse.
Show threadokanogen VerminEnemyFromWithinSep 22, 2023
@timnitGebru
Or perhaps, intentionally....