Making Noise. Why #ISupportTimnit
I can’t stop thinking about the perverse incentives that modern companies have to put profits & shareholders over ethics .
For a very quick summary, Google terminated the co-lead of the Google Ethical AI team and then flipped some words to make it seem like Dr. Gebru resigned in a nice, buttoned-up way. This termination happened after Dr. Gebru was looking to co-publish a paper indicating many of the dangers of machine learning — to our planet and to our society. [More of that summary on my previous post]
I have been writing furiously internally and hosting conversations with Googlers who want to learn more and talk — with the ultimate goal of helping folks (who have the positionally to incur a bit of risk) to sign the petition that Dr. Gebru’s team started. You should sign too — seriously.
I’m hoping to modify some of those resources to share them externally, with the broader goal of educating and closing the gaps so we can all move more quickly to identifying immoral decisions, listening to folks who are impacted by harm, and believing those who are brave enough to speak out against both.
Below were some thoughts I shared to a few folks:
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This week has hit hard for many of us, especially for Black and Womxn Googlers — and so many folks outside of Google as well. I know not everyone has gotten a chance to catch up or process but I wanted to share some of my personal thoughts and amplify some of the voices I’ve been seeing in other spaces. [Link to internal reflection]. You do not have to agree with my personal conclusion, but if this helps one person process, I consider it worth sharing. Note that the alarm and grief that so many have is NOT about a single incident or pedantry of an HR classification. It is about repeated patterns — of companies broadcasting values but ignoring the ethicists that warn them of the dire societal impacts of their products — of dismissing and minimizing the work and voices of marginalized groups. Tristan Harris is a household name and Dr. Gebru is unemployed.
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The people that replied to me expressing gratitude/support were 80% women of color and 100% women — because we’ve seen it — we’ve seen this bullshit, this idea of protecting status/money over morals and impacted communities. Not a fully formed thought, but it might also be because in some way, society conditions women and especially women of color to be caretakers, to protect people from harm, something many of us wear as a badge of honor, a core belief. Not only have we experienced this bs first-hand, women often put community and family over our own personal risk.
There are white guys, and men more broadly, that of course also take care of communities, but for men, my guess is that the pressure to conform to how society defines ‘success’ for men — though work and money and power — sometimes forces men to choose between care for others and ‘status’/prestige. White women walk a fine line of protecting that power and also understanding that harm [Go buy White Tears, Brown Scars — from Semicolon Bookstore in Chicago — for some more cognent analysis on that].
And the thing is the drive for status and prestige — and the corresponding 70 hours work week and abondonment of morals — is a game no one wants to play. Wouldn’t we all rather be hanging with our families, sharing drinks with our friends, inviting our neighbors over for meals?
At the end of the day we need to think about who created institutions/spaces and who benefits from that power. We need to examine why folks are conditioned to believe that institutional account of what happened instead of the person who is sounding the alarm. I’ve been thinking a lot about how China sent police to silence Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who tried to warn folks about coronavirus early on. These patterns are everywhere if you pay attention.
If you are a man and you haven’t asked the women in your lives about their experiences operating in institutions build by and for men, ask them. Listen. For white folks, imagine now fighting against the dual power structures of sexism and racism — and the people that cling on to them so powerfully that will do anything (lie/cheat/harm) to hold on to them. If you are white, and aren’t close with folks of color, follow BIPOC voices on social media, read their books, listen to their podcasts. You’ll see these patterns. Those in power don’t want to give it up — in society and in institutions. Companies that are making boatloads of money have a tension between profits and ethics.
I truly think that most people at Google, and many in corporations do want to live their values, but right now there is blind belief in believing corps speak and a bit of fear for retribution (don’t want to lose a job with free lattes and a gym!). The thing is, as I understand it, Googleyness is defined by doing the right thing, challenging the status quo, and above all respecting eachother, our users and the communities we work alongside. I hold hope that Google can still be that place.
But to do that, we need to show up and support Dr. Gebru. Read her story:
And here’s that petition again.
I will keep writing and sharing and invite any feedback or conversation. Thank you to all of you for always listening to me, supporting me and being a part of my family — blood or otherwise.
Nicki
