A Lesson from Google: Can AI Bias be Monitored Internally? | Cold Call
Dr. Timnit Gebru was the co-lead of Google’s Ethical AI research team – until she raised concerns about bias in the company’s large language models and was forced out in 2020.

Her departure sent shockwaves through the AI and tech community and raised fundamental questions about how companies safeguard against bias in their own AI. Should in-house ethics research continue to be led by researchers who best understand the technology, or must ethics and bias be monitored by more objective researchers who aren’t employed by companies?
Harvard Business School professor Tsedal Neeley discusses how companies can approach the problem of AI bias in her case, “Timnit Gebru: ‘SILENCED No More’ on AI Bias and The Harms of Large Language Models.” (https://store.hbr.org/product/timnit-gebru-silenced-no-more-on-ai-bias-and-the-harms-of-large-language-models/422085?sku=422085-PDF-ENG)
This episode originally aired on Cold Call on August 9, 2022.
You can also listen to this episode on HBR.org, and wherever you listen to podcasts:
- HBR.org (transcript available here): https://hbr.org/podcast/2022/08/a-lesson-from-google-can-ai-bias-be-monitored-internally
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-lesson-from-google-can-ai-bias-be-monitored-internally/id1156646189?i=1000575518349
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/10PE0JYiaVp4A04vNJq1e9?si=2e1937c63a214033
- Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/cold-call/episode/a-lesson-from-google-can-ai-bias-be-monitored-internally-205628379
- Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmhhcnZhcmRidXNpbmVzcy5vcmcvaGFydmFyZGJ1c2luZXNzL2NvbGQtY2FsbA/episode/dGFnOmF1ZGlvLmhici5vcmcsMjAxNi0wOS0xNjpjb2xkLWNhbGwuMDE4MQ?sa=X&ved=0CAgQuIEEahcKEwiQ9PW49aL_AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQNQ
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Chapters:
00:00 – Intro
5:18 – LLMs in the Context of AI
8:14 – Who Is Timnit Gebru?
10:55 – AI and DEI
13:39 – Timnit vs. Google
20:53 – Timnit After Google / DAIR
23:37 – Outro
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