More and more prominent tech figures are voicing concerns about superintelligent AI and risks to the future of humanity. But as leading AI ethicist Timnit Gebru and researcher Émile P Torres point out, these ideologies have deeply racist foundations. TESCREAL “So another “godfather” of AI, Turing Award Winner Yoshua Bengio has decided to FULLY align himself with the #TESCREAL bundle, writing about “rogue AI” and prominently citing people like Nick Bostrom,” tweeted Gebru, founder of the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR). TESCREAL, coined by Émile Torres and Gebru, stands for Transhumanism, Extropianism,
Asian American professionals are more likely to join Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) than their colleagues but feel excluded from workplace DEI initiatives, according to new research by AAPI Data and Momentive. Despite their diverse backgrounds, people of Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage often encounter similar challenges that hinder their career growth and well-being. To address these concerns, many turn to ERGs as a source of support, connection, and advocacy within their organizations. AAPI Data and Momentive found that 16% of Asian American workers, 18% of Native Hawaiian
Over thirty years ago, Guinean brothers Ibrahima and Abdoulaye Barry created ADLaM, new alphabet for the Pulaar language of the Fulani people of West Africa. Now, Microsoft 365 has integrated the redesigned alphabet into its global platforms, helping to preserve the language for years to come. Disappearing languages Every three months, a language becomes extinct. happens every three months. As much as 90% of the world’s 6,500 languages are expected to disappear by the end of the century. Although over 40 million people speak it, for most of its history,
In a watershed moment for the global tech industry, more than 150 African content moderators—who have provided moderation services for AI tools used by Facebook, TikTok, and ChatGPT—have voted to unionize, TIME reports. At an event in Nairobi this week, content moderators employed by third-party outsourcing companies voted to establish the first African Content Moderators Union. A long time coming The union’s establishment is the culmination of a process that began in 2019 when former Facebook content moderator Daniel Motaung was fired after attempting to unionize workers at the outsourcing
This article was first published by Luli Adeyemo on Medium. It started off with small talk between myself and my fantastic hairdresser, Jasmine, but things really got interesting when we got to the ‘are you doing anything special later’ question. I took great delight in telling Jasmine that I was moderating a panel that celebrates women who code and how women in the tech industry are using creativity and technology as their superpower. I was really looking forward to it as it was part of the launch of Marvel Studios’
This article was first published by Sha Hurley on Medium. March 31 was officially the end of my seven-year journey as a Googler. It’s been a stressful, yet healing time. Below, I share my reflections in the hope they will be an inspiration for some and a resource for others. Please share this post if you think it would help someone. I’ll be very interested in your thoughts below in the comments. Or DM me if something more private you’d like to connect on. This is going to be a long
Tech giant Meta is being sued by content moderators in Kenya, again. On Monday, 43 content moderators filed a lawsuit accusing Facebook’s parent company and two subcontractors, Sama and Majorel of ‘unlawful redundancy’ and discriminatory hiring practices. Meta had contracted Kenya-based firm Sama to moderate Facebook content in eastern and southern Africa. However, Sama closed its content moderation arm in January and announced it would be laying off 260 content moderators when its contract with Meta ends on March 31. The suit claims that redundancy notices were not issued and that Meta and Sama
Several Black-led venture capital firms have written an open letter in response to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) op-ed which suggests Silicon Valley Bank’s diversity focus contributed to its collapse. Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the WSJ published an opinion piece by Kessler in which he stated: “I’m not saying 12 white men would have avoided this mess, but the company may have been distracted by diversity demands.” Black Women in Venture Capital, BLCK VC, 1863 Ventures, and Living Cities wrote an open letter to the Wall Street Journal editors and
Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse has reignited debates about whether the US government is doing enough to regulate financial institutions – but another debate is brewing. Here’s an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published on March 12: “Was there regulatory failure? Perhaps. SVB was regulated like a bank but looked more like a money-market fund. Then there’s this: In its proxy statement, SVB notes that besides 91% of their board being independent and 45% women they also have “1 Black,” “1 LGBTQ+” and “2 Veterans.” I’m not
After days of turmoil, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) customers are now able to access their money held in the bank. What happened to SVB? It took just 24 hours for US tech’s favorite bank to fall from grace. SVB served nearly half of US VC-backed tech startups and investors, according to the FT. But interest rates rose, bond values shrank, and with the tech industry slowdown, deposit withdrawals rose too. In a crude oversimplification: companies and investors pulled their money out of SVB amid economic uncertainty. To meet depositor demands for
