A speaker on the annual NeurIPS AI convention has drawn criticism — not for her opinions about AI, however the way in which she referred to a Chinese language pupil.
Throughout her keynote presentation on “Learn how to optimize what issues most,” MIT Media Lab Professor Rosalind Picard (pictured above) included a slide quoting an excuse given by a “Chinese language pupil who’s now expelled from high college” for utilizing AI, with the scholar supposedly saying, “No person at my faculty taught us morals or values.”
The slide additionally features a be aware from Picard saying, “Most Chinese language who I do know are trustworthy and morally upright.”
Google DeepMind scientist Jiao Solar shared a photo of the slide on X, writing, “Mitigating racial bias from LLMs is so much simpler than eradicating it from people!” Yuandong Tian, a analysis scientist at Meta, reposted Solar’s remark and added, “That is specific racial bias. How might this occur in NeurIPS?”
In Q&A footage that was also shared on X, an attendee famous that this was the one time anybody’s nationality was referenced in Picard’s presentation, urged that it was “a bit offensive,” and urged her to take away the reference if she gave the presentation once more — a suggestion that Picard seeming to agree with.
Following the speak, NeurIPS organizers posted an apology, writing, “We need to handle the remark made throughout the invited speak this afternoon, as it’s one thing that NeurIPS doesn’t condone and it doesn’t align with our code of conduct. We’re addressing this subject with the speaker straight. NeurIPS is devoted to being a various and inclusive place the place everyone seems to be handled equally.”
Picard additionally apologized in a statement during which she expressed “remorse” for mentioning the scholar’s nationality.
“I see that this was pointless, irrelevant to the purpose I used to be making, and induced unintended unfavorable associations,” Picard wrote. “I apologize for doing this and really feel very badly in regards to the misery that this incident has induced. I’m studying from this expertise, and I welcome concepts for the way to attempt to make amends to the neighborhood.”
