AI INDUSTRY IS INFLUENCING THE WORLD. MOZILLA ADVISER ABEBA BIRHANE IS CHALLENGING ITS CORE VALUES

"Scaling up" is a catchphrase in the artificial intelligence industry as tech companies rush to improve their AI systems with ever-bigger sets of internet data.

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It's also a red flag for Mozilla's Abeba Birhane, an AI expert who for years has challenged the values and practices of her field and the influence it's having on the world.

Her latest research finds that scaling up on online data used to train popular AI image-generator tools is disproportionately resulting in racist outputs, especially against Black men.

Birhane is a senior adviser in AI accountability at the Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit parent organization of the free software company that runs the Firefox web browser. Raised in Ethiopia and living in Ireland, she’s also an adjunct assistant professor at Trinity College Dublin.

Her interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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