Platformer: Microsoft just laid off one of its responsible AI teams

What was I saying about that Silicon Valley mantra again?

From Platformer:

Some members of the team pushed back. “I'm going to be bold enough to ask you to please reconsider this decision,” one employee said on the call. “While I understand there are business issues at play … what this team has always been deeply concerned about is how we impact society and the negative impacts that we've had. And they are significant.”

Montgomery declined. “Can I reconsider? I don't think I will,” he said. “Cause unfortunately the pressures remain the same. You don't have the view that I have, and probably you can be thankful for that. There's a lot of stuff being ground up into the sausage.”

Commercial pressures trump societal damage limitation, it seems.

Who the fuck do these people think they are?

14 March 2023 — French West Indies

Matthew Cowen @matthewcowen