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Earlier this month, Timnit Gebru, the co-leader of a team of researchers at Google specializing in the ethical implications of artificial intelligence, was unceremoniously ousted from her position. Some of the circumstances that led to her departure are disputed, but Gebru\\u2014a Black woman in a field that is overwhelmingly white and male\\u2014claims she was forced out for drawing unwelcome attention to the lack of diversity in Google\\u2019s workforce. She also claims she was \\u201csilenced\\u201d for her refusal to retract a paper that she had co-authored on ethical problems associated with certain types of AI models that are central to Google\\u2019s business.

The episode has sparked a fierce backlash across Silicon Valley and beyond, including among current and former Google employees. This week on Trend Lines, WPR\\u2019s Elliot Waldman is joined by Karen Hao, the senior AI reporter for MIT Technology Review, to discuss the reaction to Gebru\\u2019s dismissal and the troubling issues she has raised around the ethical implications of recent advances in AI. To learn more about this topic, check out Karen\\u2019s weekly newsletter, The Algorithm, and the podcast she co-produces, In Machines We Trust.

Relevant Articles on WPR:

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It Will Take More Than an Antitrust Case to Fix the Problems of Big Tech

The Troubling Rise of Facial Recognition Technology in Democracies

Are Governments Sacrificing Privacy to Fight the Coronavirus Pandemic?

Can New Norms of Behavior Extend the Rules-Based Order Into Cyberspace?

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter D\\xf6rrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

To send feedback or questions, email us at podcast@worldpoliticsreview.com.