Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Timnit Gebru

@timnitgebru.bsky.social

28K followers 770 following 840 posts

Personal Account Founder: The Distributed AI Research Institute @dairinstitute.bsky.social. Author: The View from Somewhere, a memoir & manifesto arguing for a technological future that serves our communities (to be published by One Signal / Atria .. more

Videos

Timnit Gebru is an Eritrean Ethiopian-born computer scientist who works in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), algorithmic bias and data mining. She is a co-founder of Black in AI, an advocacy group that has pushed for more Black roles in AI development and research. She is the founder of the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR). .. more

Computer science 77%

Mathematics 7%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · Apr 15

🔇🔇🔇Announcing new work from DAIR which is very close to my heart, 3 years in the making.

When #TigrayGenocide, the deadliest genocide of the 21st century thus far, started in November 2020, it was 1 month before I got fired from Google. 🧵

english.elpais.com/internationa...

Ethiopia’s forgotten war is the deadliest of the 21st century, with around 600,000 civilian deaths

Estimates by European institutions and academics say over half a million non-combatants have died during the Tigray conflict as a result of a government blockade that kept out humanitarian aid

english.elpais.com

5 150 280

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 2h

What's the latest excuse for bothsidesing colonization and apartheid culminating in a livestreamed genocide?

@BarackObama After two years of unimaginable loss and suffering for Israeli families and the people of Gaza, we should all be encouraged and relieved that an end to the conflict is within sight; that those hostages still being held will be reunited with their families; and that vital aid can start reaching those inside Gaza whose lives have been shattered. More than that, though, it now falls on Israelis and Palestinians, with the support of the U.S. and the entire world community, to begin the hard task of rebuilding Gaza – and to commit to a process that, by recognizing the common humanity and basic rights of both peoples, can achieve a lasting peace.

2 8 54

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 3h

You can also apply to be a TA using the same portal.

2 6

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 4h

Reminder to apply to AddisCoder, a one month free algorithms and coding camp for high schoolers in Ethiopia. Deadline is December 31. Spread the word to those who may benefit from the program.

www.addiscoder.com

AddisCoder

www.addiscoder.com

1 19 29

Reposted by Timnit Gebru

Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 7h

Relatedly:

medium.com/@emilymenonb...

Talking about a ‘schism’ is ahistorical

In two recent conversations with very thoughtful journalists, I was asked about the apparent ‘schism’ between those making a lot of noise…

medium.com

3 16

Reposted by Timnit Gebru

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 8h

Self proclaimed "genius rationalist" eugenicist with a claim to fame being writing a harry potter fanfic is someone to listen to and collaborate with.

1 46

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 8h

One of the people who they boasted endorsed the AI 2027 thing is a eugenicist cult leader pontificating about at which age children have a "right to life" & whether its the immigrants' "dysgenic (the opposite of eugenic) pressures getting everyone stupider.

Yes we should all just get along.

1 6 47

Reposted by Timnit Gebru, Scott L. Greer

UC Davis School of Law @ucdavislaw.bsky.social · 8h

We are looking forward to this talk next Tuesday with Dr.
@timnitgebru.bsky.social
about the history of the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) movement and its link to the 20th-century eugenics movement.

➡️ In-person and via livestream: bit.ly/42kxaQV

#AGI #AI #ArtificialIntelligence

12 30

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 8h

Its the modern day version of the white man's burden. Colonialism and empire building at its best, using the same arguments of empires of yore as Karen Hao so eloquently put it in her book, Empire of AI.

This IS the side to fight against, not the side to join in service of some larger goal.

2 16 99

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Els Torreele

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 8h

This isn't a "why can't we all get along" kumbaya moment. Its a moment to understand all the ways in which the people who created OpenAI, Anthropic etc claiming that their machine god will bring utopia, are the actual "existential risks" to humanity.

Raising billions of dollars to "save humanity."

2 52 180

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 8h

One side, "AI 2027" is led by a bunch of privileged white people working at the companies causing the other side (AI con/Empire of AI).

One side, the "AI is gonna be so powerful if you don't let US be the AGI builders" is making money from stealing data, killing the environment & exploiting labor.

Elinor🎗️ @ COLM 🍁 @elinorpd.bsky.social · 11h

bsky.app/profile/mari...

Slide with “we are here” in bottom left with an arrow pointing top right towards two groups of words: “AI2027” & “everyone dies” and then “AI con” “AI snake oil” “Empire of AI”

2 42 160

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 8h

👇👇👇

Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 9h

If your invited keynote speaker works for a company started because OpenAI wasn't basing its work enough on science fiction and said speaker uncritically cites TESCREAList, fictional work masquerading as science, you might not have organized a serious academic gathering.

5 29

Reposted by Timnit Gebru

Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 9h

1 25 99

Reposted by Timnit Gebru

Elinor🎗️ @ COLM 🍁 @elinorpd.bsky.social · 11h

bsky.app/profile/mari...

2 6

Reposted by Timnit Gebru

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 12h

It will be my privilege to join @timnitgebru.bsky.social and @ karenhao.bsky.social for this discussion on centering our humanity in the age of AI at @sxsw.com. I hope you can join us! #SXSW2026

SXSW @sxsw.com · 8d

From an iconic 2000s band sharing their secrets on selling out tours to a futurist covering the biggest tech trends, there's something for everyone in this first round of #SXSW2026 Conference speaker announcement. ⬇️

6 18

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you ❤️

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 2d

And mabye that's why he made the comments he made in response to my concerns about race in the article above which I'm not sure you've read.

1 3

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 2d

But maybe, hear me out, the fact that they're white is salient and that's why I mentioned it before you came here to argue with me. Maybe white men are the ones who think that race and gender doesn't matter because they've been so used to their race and gender being the defaults.

2 5

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 2d

We no longer have the time nor the space for people who want to come to us with the "I don't see race" or "reverse racism" or "why do you bring up the race and the gender" type comments. Truly.

3 13

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 2d

I have no time for this nonsense sir, do this stuff elsewhere please.

1 12

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 2d

Even worse.

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 2d

Too old to answer to the whole why is race relevant or why is gender relevant thing at this point lol.

2 1 34

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 2d

To a privileged, out of touch, white dude like him, a hypothetical magical fairy tale scenario that both makes him a godmaker and justifies the current harms this endeavor results in, is clearly more important than real world issues the rest of us face.

1 18 120

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 2d

To a white dude, a hypothetical magical fairytale scenario that both makes the godmaker is clearly more important than real world issues the rest of us face.

1 3

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 2d

They gave the physics prize to the dude who said that ChatGPT is the world's butterfly and GPT3 was a caterpillar.

The dude who told us in 2018 that radiologists should cease to go to school because the profession was gonna be out in 5 years. But 5 years later he just moved on to the next lie.

These Women Tried to Warn Us About AI

Rumman Chowdhury, Timnit Gebru, Safiya Noble, Seeta Peña Gangadharan, and Joy Buolamwini open up about their artificial intelligence fears

www.rollingstone.com

4 89 260

Reposted by Alan Richardson

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 2d

Back in the day people used to have a slide at the end of their presentations saying "and that's how the brain works" as an inside joke about Hinton since he was known to talk confidently out of his ass.

Now, the Nobel committee brought this upon us like they give the peace prize to genociders.

⚡️🌙 @dystopiabreaker.xyz · 4d

anyway, here is 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics winner Geoffrey Hinton discussing what we know about large AI models on 60 Minutes.

3 58 210