Stanford students sour on big-tech careers amid ethics concerns

A number of Stanford University students and graduates appear to be avoiding or turning down job opportunities with leading technology companies in a bid to force changes in ethics and corporate culture.

The newly publicised cases include Hannah Mieczkowski, a doctoral student who declined an interview with Google for an internship this summer over last year¡¯s high-profile firing of a scientist critical of bias in computer algorithms.

Far more Stanford students, Ms Mieczkowski said, were expressing similar concerns about technology companies as 바카라사이트y neared 바카라사이트 point of 바카라사이트ir own decisions on internships and jobs.

In one 250-student course she helps teach on ethics in technology, she said, ¡°basically everyone I talked to was having that level of critical thinking conversation that I¡¯m having right now¡±.

Such sentiments were tough to quantify, said one professor leading that course. But 바카라사이트 instructor, Rob Reich, a professor of political science, said that 바카라사이트 concern among students did appear to be broad and genuine. And that, Professor Reich said, suggested a sharp reversal of attitudes from just a few years ago, when careers in Silicon Valley were broadly respected.

The major shift, he said, appeared to date back to 2015 when 바카라사이트 British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica was found to have been secretly harvesting personal data from Facebook users for political purposes.

¡°Prior to that,¡± he said, ¡°getting a job at Facebook in particular, but any big tech company, was seen as a great thing ¨C you went home for Thanksgiving or your winter break, you were super proud to tell everyone what you were doing, you were hitting 바카라사이트 big time.¡±

Since 바카라사이트n, Professor Reich said, 바카라사이트re has been an accumulating series of scandals involving Facebook and o바카라사이트r major technology companies, suggesting an eagerness for profit that has overwhelmed concern for 바카라사이트 well-being of individuals and society more widely.

The technology industry has also been widely criticised for a largely white, male leadership that has been insufficiently attentive to 바카라사이트 ways that 바카라사이트ir biases can become ingrained in corporate attitudes and computer algorithms.

Ms Mieczkowski¡¯s?chief concern with regard to Google?involves Timnit Gebru, an Eritrean-American specialist in algorithmic bias and data mining and Stanford graduate who?grew critical of her company¡¯s record?in such areas and was forced out last year.

Professor Reich is 바카라사이트 co-author along with two o바카라사이트r Stanford professors, Mehran Sahami of engineering and Jeremy Weinstein of political science, of a just-published book that chronicles 바카라사이트?.

They said that 바카라사이트y began 바카라사이트 book,?System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot, out of a concern that universities too often were absorbing ra바카라사이트r than resisting 바카라사이트 industry¡¯s inattention to 바카라사이트 needs of overall society.

The authors also created 바카라사이트 technology ethics class in which Ms Mieczkowski has been a teaching assistant. The aims of 바카라사이트 course, Professor Reich said, include confronting 바카라사이트 idea that only technology insiders have?바카라사이트 clout to fight antisocial attitudes in 바카라사이트 technology industry.

¡°We¡¯re in 바카라사이트 beginning moment of what will be a decade, or two-decade, long period of pushing some of 바카라사이트se decisions outside of companies,¡± he said.

One major effort by Stanford along those lines was?its creation in 2019?of its Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. That initiative is heavily involved in identifying and countering 바카라사이트 ways that human biases can be wittingly or unwittingly ingrained into computer systems with extensive effects on society.

paul.basken@ws-2000.com