NeurIPS keynote speaker apologizes for referring to Chinese student

A speaker at the annual NeurIPS AI conference has drawn criticism – not for his views on AI, but for the way he named a Chinese student.

Time his main show on “How to achieve what matters most,” MIT Media Lab Professor Rosalind Picard (pictured above) included a quote from a “Chinese student who has now been kicked out of a top university” for using AI, the student says, No one at our school who taught us good manners or morals.

In the film there is also a quote written by Picard saying, “Most of the Chinese I know are honest and moral.”

Google DeepMind expert Jiao Sun shared a photo on X’s photo, he writes, “Reducing racism from LLMs is easier than removing it from people!” Yuandong Tian, ​​a research scientist at Meta, also wrote Sun’s comment and he added“This is blatant discrimination. How will this work at NeurIPS?”

On the Q&A screen that was also shared on Xone attendee noted that this was the only time any race was mentioned in Picard’s speech, and called it “a little offensive,” and urged him to remove the reference if he gave the sermon again—a sentiment Picard seemed to agree with. .

Following the story, the organizers of NeurIPS sent an apologyhe writes, “We would like to comment on the comments made in the invited talk this afternoon, because they are not accepted by NeurIPS and do not comply with our code of conduct.” We are discussing this matter with the speaker directly. NeurIPS is committed to being a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone is treated equally. “

Picard also apologized words how he expressed “sorrow” for mentioning the student’s country.

Picard wrote: “I feel that this was unnecessary, irrelevant to the point I was making, and created bad associations.” “I apologize for doing this and I am very disappointed by the problems that have occurred. I am learning from this experience, and I welcome ideas on how I can try to improve things in the community.”